Running a BBS

[HENRY KISOR (SYSOP)]

  Yeah, you journalists are nosy b*st*rds. How you can sleep at night
is beyond me.
  Beyond the cost of a computer (often minimal, if you're using an
old 8088 machine that has been long expensed), a phone line and maybe
$125 for the software, running a BBS does not run up enormous costs.
It's mostly the time you put into it that can be a burden.
  From time to time in the past I got tired of running a spigot of
code for *ssh*les who downloaded, downloaded and downloaded without
even saying thank you, let alone participating in the message base.
Finally last year I decided to take this BBS semiprivate, keeping the
user base under 100, and it has made all the difference in the time I
have to spend doing housekeeping chores: maybe 10 minutes each day and
half an hour on weekends. Running it is fun again.
  I don't know of any books on the subject. Pity. There's a need for
one.
  If your group carefully controls the number of users, running the
system should be neither expensive nor onerous.
  I'd ask around among other sysops -- Cathy Konas is a good one to
talk to.