FWIW I always think of an "unofficial" BBS as similar to a "non-government-run" mass media; in other words an important check-and-balance, and withal more dignified and credible than the "official" sort. And if one's allowed to unilaterally declare officialness just because the original group that could have bestowed officialness has disappeared without doing so, there's way cooler things we could be than the official Empeg BBS: how about the Official Douglas Adams BBS, or perhaps the Official Concorde BBS? Or maybe we could crown ourselves the Official Holy Roman Emperor?

Peter