Running a BBS

[JERRY OLSEN]

A few random additions/comments to your reply....
   Running a public board probably requires more than one review of
messages per day if those messages are immediately available to
subsequent callers--at least for a reasonable legal defense. One of the
(many) common little-known factors of "sysoping" is the potential legal
jeopardy involved. The law seems to be getting tougher these days, at
least in part due to the unfamiliar ground BBSes represent to most
judicial types.
   I've run a system for five years now (plus 15 or so days!), and
not infrequently found 20 hrs. required some weeks. As a public system,
this involves some occasional, persistent twits (not common, but
occasionally...), uploads to check, validations (which I treat
seriously for protection of others), etc.
   Someone on one of Ward Christensen's boards calculated run-time
costs which came very close to my own, less precise calculations.
Roughly, electricity runs about $5 per month per 50 watts of
power-supply rating (i.e., a 200W system runs about $20/mo.). As you
point out, a variety of often-unrecognized costs are involved. My
system, which runs on an antiquated CP/M machine with no-cost software
and--fortunately--little maintenance costs, costs between $600 and
$1200 per year overall.
   Someone uploaded a file on my board written by some sysop who
detailed every BBS-related cost he could conjure. The amount was really
unreasonable, but the narrative is shocking, raising many costs the
average caller wouldn't even suspect. If interested, the file (sorry--
filename not immediately available) is in the "GENTEXT" area. Access:
The Advocate/NOWAR, 312.939.4411, 24 hrs., 8/n/1, 300/1200/2400, Loop
area.