Editing BITNET Relay (section)

== Popularity ==

One of the reasons Relay gained acceptance was that its system of peer servers decreased the network bandwidth consumed by group chat, due to no longer having to send multiple copies of the same message individually to each server. Because of this efficiency and the limited bandwidth at the time, users were often not allowed to use or develop alternate chat systems{{Citation needed|date = June 2014}}. Experimental chats like ''Galaxy Network'' and ''VM/Shell'' were asked to shut down before they achieved noteworthy success.

Bitnet Relay gained popularity in the late 1980s when Valdis Kletnieks at [[Virginia Tech]] created a [[Pascal (programming language)|Pascal]] version that consumed far less [[CPU time]], and again in the early 1990s when Smart Relay improved handling of message delivery.

Though Jeff Kell himself had made observations about the possible demise of BITNET Relay, only [[TCP/IP]] and the [[Internet]] brought about the end of BITNET and Relay. [[Jarkko Oikarinen]], the creator of [[Internet Relay Chat]], says that he was inspired by BITNET Relay<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mirc.com/jarkko.html |title=Founding IRC |first=Jarkko |last=Oikarinen |authorlink=Jarkko Oikarinen}}</ref>