Event Horizons BBS

Event Horizons BBS was a popular and perhaps the most financially successful Bulletin Board System (BBS). It was founded in 1983 by Jim Maxey, a self-taught scientist,{{cite journal|title=Entrepreneur hits bulletin board bull's eye|author=Fran Gardner|date=February 10, 1994|journal=The Oregonian}} who was President and CEO and ran his company out of Lake Oswego, Oregon.{{cite magazine|title=Home-grown BB$|author=Jack Rickard|url=https://www.wired.com/1993/04/bbs/?pg=2&topic=|magazine=WIRED Magazine|date=April 1, 1993|accessdate=June 24, 2021}} By 1993, the BBS was grossing over $3.2 million annually.{{cite book|title=Digital Human: The Fourth Revolution of Humanity Includes Everyone|year=2018|page=38|author=Chris Skinner|publisher=UNKNO|isbn=978-9814794374}} In 1994, the BBS had 128 phone lines and over 34,000 members, and eighteen employees.{{cite book|title=Love Bytes: The Online Dating Handbook|year=1994|publisher=Waite Group|isbn=1878739883|author= David Fox}} The organization also offered mail-ordered copies of content for those that did not want to download said via modem.{{cite book|page=127|title=The Joy of CyberSex: An Underground Guide to Electronic Erotica|author=Phillip Robertson|year=1993|isbn=1566861071|publisher=Brady Games}} Event Horizons in later years ran on the TBBS system.{{cite magazine|page=389|magazine=PC Magazine|date=June 28, 1994|title=World's Most Expensive BBS}} In 1996, Maxey closed the BBS.

Event Horizons BBS originally offered online forums, games, and astronomy images{{cite journal|journal=Boardwatch Magazine|title=Event Horizons' Voyager III Multimedia Tour of Solar System|date=February 1994}} for paying customers to download. Maxey first charged $1/hr which grew over the years to $24/hr. The BBS later offered softcore adult images and movies which helped to secure its fame as the most profitable BBS.{{cite book|title=Obscene Profits: Entrepreneurs of Pornography in the Cyber Age|page=64|author=Frederick S. Lane|isbn=978-0415920964|year=1999|publisher=Routledge}} Maxey and his team of programmers working for the BBS created an interactive, graphical game called Voyager III that allowed the players to explore space.

In 1992, Playboy Enterprises sued Event Horizons for copyright infringement. Maxey reportedly paid Playboy a half million dollars to settle the case out of court in 1993.{{cite book|page=160|title=Web Wizard's Guide to HTML|author=Wendy Lehnert |year=2002|isbn=0201741725|publisher=Addison-Wesley}}{{cite book|page=33|title=Stigma and the Shaping of the Pornography Industry|author=Georgina Voss|isbn=978-0415821179|publisher=Routledge|year=2015}} The BBS complied with copyright law in the wake of the settlement.{{cite book|page=97|title=Aether Madness: An Offbeat Guide to the Online World|author=Gary Wolf|year=1995|isbn=9781566090209|publisher=Peachpit}}