Estimating numbers According to the FidoNet Nodelist, BBSes reached their peak usage around 1996, which was the same period that the World Wide Web and AOL became mainstream. BBSes rapidly declined in popularity thereafter, and were replaced by systems using the Internet for connectivity. Some of the larger commercial BBSes, such as MaxMegabyte and ExecPC BBS, evolved into Internet service providers.
estimating numbers according to the fidonet nodelist bbses reached their peak usage around 1996 which was the same period that the world wide web and aol became mainstream bbses rapidly declined in popularity thereafter and were replaced by systems using the internet for connectivity some of the larger commercial bbses such as maxmegabyte and execpc bbs evolved into internet service providers