I found this backup tape while sorting through boxes — the final resting place of Sound Bytes BBS.
Turns out I can still fire it up in DOSBox and browse through everything as a time capsule.
Though the farewell message suggests the BBS would return in summer of 1996, the world moved on quickly, and the BBS scene — as it was — disappeared just like *that*.
By the time 1996 did roll around, we were busy building our area's first dial-up ISP, and there was no turning back.