Gopher #

Gopher seems to me a very viable and very capable protocol for serving information over the internet. There's still a lot of very good reasons to use HTTP and HTTPS over Gopher, however I'd like to recommend anyone who knows about Gopher to check it out. No trackers, no ads, nothing of that sort. It's just plaintext that can be browsed, and ways to include files. It reminds me a bit of BBS boards with how ASCII-dependant it is. I'd like to think it also supports Unicode(UTF-8) however I have not tried or looked into it.

If you're using gopher, check out my Gopherhole! It just points back here...

Those interested in browsing gopherspace, and you're using chrome(or similar browser), try using the Burrow addon^[1]. The reason you have to use an addon is because most modern web browsers no longer support the Gopher Protocol. For the optimal experience, I recommend using a terminal and using the "lynx" browser. I don't believe w3m works, but I may be wrong.

For those interested in setting up a Gopherhole, it's easier than setting up a website! It effectively just serves plaintext and files. Information can be found here^[2]. Literally anyone on a Linux or Unix system can set up and run a gopherhole, even off of their own PC. I imagine you might be able to make it work on a Windows System. Especially with all the "Windows Subsystem for Linux" stuff, but I am not educated on that.
Go forward! Make a gopherhole! Browse the Gopherspace! Reject terrible standards!

Footnotes #

Published on 2020/01/06