BBSes were VERY popular and at one time there were almost 50,000 BBSes in the U.S. alone and hundreds of thousands across the world.
Since the late 1990's people have pretty much put aside BBSes because they feel they can get the same and more amounts of information via the Internet and WWW. People are now saying "BBSes are dead!", or "Just give it up!".
BBSes are NOT dead, there are several BBSes on the Internet at excellent speeds, with some really cool people and great content.
BBSes are great, because let's face it, there are just some things WWW will never be able to do! Benefits of BBSes:
Files: Specialized File Areas (Some bbses gear towards hard to find files.. some that would take FOREVER to find on the internet!) Friendly file systems;No pointing and clicking though 100 web pages to get those files you want. You can find what you want, quick and easy, and Batch Download your file Queue.
Message Areas:Converse with people that share your interests, instead of a assorted bunch of nuts, attention whores and trolls.
Online Gaming: Play "Doorgames": Online BBS Games that the users use to interact with each other. There are several games that are popular, such as RPG, strategy and casino games