ABSTRACT
Between 1992 and 1996, Turkey was host to a vibrant bulletin board system (BBS) ecology centered around the Hi! Turkiye Network. National in scale, and based on Fidonet network protocols, Hitnet connected local BBSs in the urban centers of Turkey with one another. As BBS network usage began to grow in Turkey during the mid-1990s, coders active within their local communities began to use the network to organize collectives dedicated to producing commercial software. In terms of infrastructure, BBSs were relatively simple to maintain. There would be one mainframe computer in the local network to which other computers would connect and access the data uploaded by the system operator of the BBS. When looking at the messages posted on the correspondence logs of local BBS communities, one notices that a significant portion of the discussions on Hitnet were devoted to subjects that would be considered potentially taboo in Turkish society.
