surfclubs

My earliest encounters with online media sharing communities were Commodore 64 bulletin board systems in the 1980s. A computer bulletin board provided message boards and the ability to share files through a simple text-based interface that were typically run by a hobbyist with a Commodore and an extra phone line. Many of the files on these bulletin boards in Texas came from Europe through a makeshift network of disk and file trading. The “art” that was most commonly traded was pirated videogames, but there were also demos, photo scans, audio samples, and other media.