Patent ID: 7424487

Claim:
A method for implementing a bulletin board system (BBS) on a server computer without employing database management software (DBMS), and by employing a native file system of the server computer, the method comprising: defining a hierarchical directory structure having a plurality of directories and sub-directories into which a plurality of BBS items are individually storable as files in accordance with the native file system of the server computer such that the files are directly openable and viewable by one or more application computer programs not associated with the BBS and such that the files as stored do not have to be extracted by the BBS before being opened by the application computer programs, where formats of the files are specified by the application computer programs and are not specified by the BBS, and where the hierarchical directory structure is implemented within the native filesystem and not within the BBS; in response to receiving a request from a client computer to post a BBS item on the BBS, receiving for the BBS item received an individually storable file from the client computer, the file directly openable and viewable by the one or more application computer programs; storing the file for the BBS item within one of the directories and sub-directories of the hierarchical directory structure as specified by the client computer; in response to a request from a client computer to view the BBS, sending the client computer a representation of the hierarchical directory structure, including filenames of the files for the BBS items stored within the directories and sub-directories of the hierarchical directory structure, the representation sent to the client computer being a complete representation of the hierarchical directory structure in that all the directories, all the sub-directories, and the filenames of all the files for the BBS items are sent to the client computer in response to the request from the client computer; and, in response to receiving a request from the client computer for a particular BBS item, sending the client computer the file for the particular BBS item.