"While everyone is looking for the next new thing on the net, it appears the new thing is just a dressed up version of the old thing."

When you think about it, it is kind of ironic that one of the original forms of Internet communication is still popular and is in fact, experiencing a renaissance.

Way back before instant messaging and UBB. Way long ago, pre-webcam chat and telephony. Before there was Graphical User Interface. Before there were browsers. Before the World Wide Web was worldwide, there was the Bulletin Board System.

Bullshit you say. Nobody uses Telnet anymore. That might be partially accurate but the spirit of the BBS lives on. Just because it's been morphed into software and other formats doesn't mean the original concept has changed. While everyone is looking for the next new thing on the net, it appears the new thing is just a dressed up version of the old thing.

Take the blogging phenomenon. Blogs are set up so the operator can post his/her thoughts for others to read. Most bloggers have a comment feature on their page where readers may post their replies to the blog. In fact, some of the most popular blogs are community-based where any member can post a topic and receive replies. Blogs are ultimately message boards, which are ultimately bulletin boards on web pages.

Pseudo psychologists warn that net-heads are at risk to develop antisocial disorders due to the disconnected, anonymous nature of the web. They claim we have a fondness for a world that isn't real. They feel we are losing touch with actuality. I say ROTFLMAO and STFU.

Bulletin boards, message boards, blogs, whatever you want to call them, these are probably the realest display of public sentiment since graffiti. ** Nowhere else but on a message board can one express oneself with such honesty and without reservation.

Right now, in the US, the "right of the people peaceably to assemble" (Bill of Rights, Amendment 1) is being severely prohibited in the real world. In case you aren't aware, ever since the current administration took office there's been a change to the way the people have been allowed to assemble.

When George W. Bush was nominated at the 2000 Republican convention, the Secret Service implemented the hypocritically named FREE SPEECH ZONE. The FREE SPEECH ZONE was a place designated for "protesters" of the Bush presidency. The zone was located far out of site of the convention's attendees.

This castration method of free speech is being used all over our nation to quell dissident voices in the name of "security". There are other countries where free speech isn't an option or a right. Notwithstanding, when the USA physically penalizes its citizens for assembling peaceably, the only place to turn is cyberspace.

Online bulletin boards are the real free speech zones. Be they blog or BBS. Even in our business, it's the boards that keep us virtuous, connected and enlightened.

Where else can a little guy challenge a big guy? Where else can one express an honest opinion anonymously? Adult webmaster message boards are where we come together as an industry. On them we police our peers, expose thieves and report criminals. Webmaster boards enable us to read news on our business, learn of the best software/services and get the sincere opinions of those in the know. On the boards, adult webmasters from all over the world speak their minds, build their reputations and get to actively participate in their industry.

We don't often confront each other in person. On occasion, we might speak on the phone for a minute or two. Our cyber meeting place is technically unreal. Yet the words posted, the thoughts stated and the ideas shared are utterly real.

They warned us the web would turn us into anti-social beings. Yet, online communication is thriving through UBB, instant message software and weblogs. The bulletin boards from the ancient days of CBBS are still alive, now better, threaded and with cool graphics. Humans in any country have a place where they can go to say what they want to say and read what they need to read.

Nothing can kill the bulletin board notion. Not broadband. Not the Secret Service. If the web were to become a fake "free speech zone", we'd all hook up our modems and go back to Telnet.

CozyCampus.com is the Official Cozy Webmaster Board!

** NOTE: Archeologists discovered 189 examples of graffiti in the ruins of Pompeii's Via Nucerina necropolis.