CBBS

[1] [2][3] In January 1978, Chicago was hit by the Great Blizzard of 1978, which dumped record amounts of snow throughout the Midwest.

Among those caught in the storm were Christensen and Suess, who were members of CACHE, the Chicago Area Computer Hobbyists' Exchange.

Christensen and Suess became enamored of the extended idea of creating a computerized answering machine and message center, which would allow members to call in with their then-new modems and leave announcements for upcoming meetings.

[5] Christensen and Suess described their innovation in an article entitled "Hobbyist Computerized Bulletin Board" in the November 1978 issue of Byte magazine.

The program had many forward thinking ideas, now accepted as canonical in the creation of message bases or "forums".