Event Horizons BBS
The Beginning
Event Horizons BBS began in 1983 but it was years before success allowed Jim Maxey to consider serious advertising, mostly it seems with PC-Magazine. Apparently, Event Horizons BBS had no competition in the entire BBS market for more than two years. Maxey's company used interesting ad concepts, which seemed imaginative for the time and probably wouldn't work today. But then again .... One headline ad claimed, "WORLDS MOST EXPENSIVE BBS. LET US SHOW YOU WHY".
Building
However, others have claimed this may not have worked as well as Maxey had thought. But something worked. Maxey climbed as high as one could reach in the BBS market, shoulders above anyone else. Many BBS operators admired Maxey and what he had achieved. I personally witnessed successful BBS businessmen asking for Maxey for his autograph at more than one BBS convention. I had never seen anything like it. People would line up to get his signature as he walked to the podium to give a speech or lecture. Jim Maxey was one of the first BBS system operators (sysops) to run the commercial BBS package, The Bread Board System (TBBS) created by Phil Becker. For the 13 year history of Event Horizons Jim Maxey continued to use TBBS software to run his BBS, creating online games and entertainment areas.
The End
In 1992 Playboy™ Enterprises sued Event Horizons for copyright infringement. Apparently Event Horizons BBS was offering lingerie images of nude women first published and owned by Playboy™. The exact details of the lawsuit has not been made public but a segment on ABC NEWSWATCH in 1993 stated that Maxey settled out of court with Playboy™, and wrote a check for a half million dollars to Playboy™ as compensation. An article in Boardwatch magazine then urged those who ran Playboy™ Magazine, to use Maxey's BBS design to create Playboy™'s own online service.