Midnight Lounge is a retro-style bulletin board system (BBS) based in Panama City Beach, FL. It's open to the public, after account verification, and is accessible via telnet, rlogin, and SSH.
Bulletin board systems were a primary means of digital communication for a lot of people and communities prior to wide availability of the Internet. One could learn phone numbers for local systems, dial in using their computer and modem, and interact with other people via message areas, play text-based games, and share files. BBSes were also a significant avenue of distribution for early shareware software. Occasionally larger local boards would organize meet-ups so users could meet face to face. They were popular enough that many major computer magazines covered them, conferences were organized, and entire businesses were established around them. In some cases as the Internet matured, BBSes transitioned away from the bulletin board aspect and became some of the first Internet Service Providers (ISPs). But, as the Internet grew in popularity, the BBS scene slowly declined.
So why set up a bulletin board again? Mostly just to reclaim some of that nostalgia and recreate a community using some of these older technologies. It's fun to work on them, it's fun to see what other System Operators (SysOps) have created. It's fun to be a part of message networks like FidoNet that have endured for decades. It also provides a respite from the chaotic nature of modern social networks without sacrificing the ability to communicate with others.
Midnight Lounge may not be available via a dial-up modem (yet!), but you can still connect and see what the BBS world is all about, or at least my interpretation of it.
I'll also post links to BBS-related projects I've worked on as I release them. I don't know if it's going to be anything useful for anyone else, but if it is... hooray! Stay tuned. If you would like to contact me, you can reach me on the BBS or via mariposa at midnightlounge dot online.