 In the early 1980s, message networks such as FidoNet sprang up to provide services such as NetMail, which is similar to internet based email.
<clarity>  In the early 1980s, message networks such as FidoNet sprang up to provide services such as NetMail, which is similar to internet based email.
 In the early 1980s, message networks such as FidoNet were developed to provide services such as NetMail, which is similar to internet based email.