@benjedwards penned a great article on the frontier days of BBSes at ArsTechnica.

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2022/12/my-secret-life-as-an-11-year-old-bbs-sysop/

keith@WMD still runs 2 Commodore BBSes from his house at tfcbbs.com (tfcbbs.com port 6400 for the Supra 128 board, port 6464 for the Color 64 board, if it is up (it is temperamental))