Fidonet
Hacker ApprovedMessaging network in Networking & smart home
Old store-and-forward network that relayed messages worldwide over dial-up, recommended for the community and friendships it fostered.
Old store-and-forward network that relayed messages worldwide over dial-up, recommended for the community and friendships it fostered.
27 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 27
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 6 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Owned for 6 years
Median of the 3 owners who said how long they have had it.
Each square is one year.
Why it carries the badge
- 27 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 6 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Community, friends and local gatherings
“the offline nature of fidonet helped me stay glued to the computer and actively participate in dozens of communities”
Comment from 10 Mar 2026 in “Ask HN: Remember Fidonet?” “I have very fond memories of fidonet: discussions, friends made, parties held.”
Comment from 2 Jun 2026 in “Fidonet: Technology, Use, Tools, and History” “I miss the quality of EchoMail conversations with friends around the world.”
Comment from 10 Mar 2026 in “Ask HN: Remember Fidonet?” - Comment from 2 Jun 2026 in “Fidonet: Technology, Use, Tools, and History”
- Comment from 10 Mar 2026 in “Ask HN: Remember Fidonet?”
Felt like magic to exchange messages
“It was really magical in those toll-call days to see messages that had relayed across the entire country in just a couple days”
Comment from 2 Jun 2026 in “Fidonet: Technology, Use, Tools, and History” “Exchanging messages with people on the other side of the world felt like magic at the time”
Comment from 10 Mar 2026 in “Ask HN: Remember Fidonet?” “it was magic when you connected and saw something was coming in”
Comment from 4 Dec 2025 in “Programming peaked” - Comment from 10 Mar 2026 in “Darkrealms BBS”
Useful knowledge and user-friendly tools
“Store-and-forward, hierarchical organization, scheduled transmissions, working over dial-up and radio links, everything is there.”
Comment from 19 Jan 2026 in “A decentralized peer-to-peer messaging application that operates over Bluetooth” “Fido was actually better at this and the tool chain much more user-friendly”
Comment from 5 Nov 2025 in “This week in 1988, Robert Morris unleashed his eponymous worm” “FidoNet and BBS provided me with access to a wealth of knowledge”
Comment from 10 Mar 2026 in “Ask HN: Remember Fidonet?” Unmatched by Usenet or later forums
“I loved Fidonet and I've not come across any Usenet group, discussion email list or web forum that quite hits the same mark.”
Comment from 10 Mar 2026 in “Darkrealms BBS” “FidoNet was a simply wonderful innovation, and it was a reflection of the creativity of its author”
Comment from 10 Mar 2026 in “Ask HN: Remember Fidonet?” “It was utterly revolutionary for us - more than the internet that came later really.”
Comment from 2 Jun 2026 in “Fidonet: Technology, Use, Tools, and History”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Doubts it works in disorganized environments
“Wouldn't it fall down completely when operating in the ever-shifting and inherently disorganized environment”
Comment from 19 Jan 2026 in “A decentralized peer-to-peer messaging application that operates over Bluetooth” Echoes limited to one net or region
“Think of how FidoNet echoes tended to be limited to a specific net or region”
Comment from 11 Sep 2026 in “Instagram's head says engagement falls by half without the algorithm”
What people said
26 of the 28 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Think of how FidoNet echoes tended to be limited to a specific net or region”
“I had a Fidonet connection for a while”
“It was really magical in those toll-call days to see messages that had relayed across the entire country in just a couple days”
“It's still there, just waiting for you!”
“Amiga 500 + Fidonet brings back such fond memories”
“completely free of spam, ai slop and mostly even political stuff”
“I have very fond memories of fidonet: discussions, friends made, parties held.”
“It was utterly revolutionary for us - more than the internet that came later really.”
“Best social network in history!”
“What I miss most is the local community aspect.”
“You had to figure it out, configure it properly and prove you were ready to go before you got a node number.”
“FidoNet & PC-Relay were pretty fanfastic.”
“I miss the quality of EchoMail conversations with friends around the world.”
“FidoNet and BBS provided me with access to a wealth of knowledge”
“It was a magical concept.”
“Fidonet allowed growing this even more - you didn't have to connect to 5 different BBS every day to stay in contact with your friends”
“the offline nature of fidonet helped me stay glued to the computer and actively participate in dozens of communities”
“We had some great gatherings back in those days”
“FidoNet was a simply wonderful innovation, and it was a reflection of the creativity of its author”
“Exchanging messages with people on the other side of the world felt like magic at the time”
“I loved Fidonet and I've not come across any Usenet group, discussion email list or web forum that quite hits the same mark.”
“Wouldn't it fall down completely when operating in the ever-shifting and inherently disorganized environment”
“Store-and-forward, hierarchical organization, scheduled transmissions, working over dial-up and radio links, everything is there.”
“Exchanging "emails" over FidoNet was so cool”
“it was magic when you connected and saw something was coming in”
“Fido was actually better at this and the tool chain much more user-friendly”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.