Citadel, MySpace, and BBS

So, I’m wanting to find out more about this projected called Citadel. It’s a groupware package for lots of important stuff like calendars, email, and chat. I actually found it while looking for a good calendar server solution. Citadel is more than a calendar for sure, the site says it can be used like a BBS.

While learning more, I ended up reading this blog post. It is a must read, particularly for anyone who remembers the BBS scene (or is still involved). The idea that MySpace is just another BBS is completely accurate. I’ll quote another good point:

Even the “BBS’s are from yesteryear” groupthink over at Slashdot is particularly ironic, considering that Slashdot itself is basically just a big BBS optimized for the reporting and discussion of tech news.

So for all you peeps who ran a BBS in your basement purely for the joy – you can now build one on the Internet and sell it for over half a billion dollars. I’m sure, forum centric products like vBul are not the answer. A forum is but one small aspect for a virtual community. Custom baked community software rules until something more modular and diverse than our typical forum software comes along.

Perhaps Citadel is a good foundation for something like that. I will be checking into it.