* * * * *
So tonight I'm gonna blog like it's 2002
[Note: If you can't load the following links, then try using The Floodgap
Public Gopher Proxy [1] to follow the links. —Editor]
I've been browsing gopher [2] the past few months, and I was very surprised
to see an old post on transclusion [3] being referenced on an article about
hypertext on gopher [4] I was also referenced in a general post [5] just a
few days ago. Finding these links isn't easy.
With HTTP (Hypertext Markup Language), the server is usually given the page
the link was clicked from (the so called “referrer page”) and I can scan the
logs to find outside links to my pages (like this page from Lobsters [6]).
With gopher though, I have to come across them since the protocol does not
include the referring link. In a way, it's even more private than HTTP.
Then again, I could always do a search [7].
Regardless, I'm not trying to scan gopherspace looking for links back to me.
I am honestly following a bunch of phlogs [8]. Reading these I am reminded of
what blogging was like back in the early 2000s—technically minded folk
talking about whatever and not trying to corner some niche market so they can
get advertising revenue. It's quite refreshing actually.
And man is it fast. Without the graphics, ads, autoplaying videos and bloated
Javascript frameworks meant to track you across the Intarwebs, it's a nice
reminder of what the Internet once was—fast.
[1]
https://gopher.floodgap.com/gopher/
[2]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gopher_(protocol)
[3]
gopher://gopher.conman.org:70/0Phlog:2003/09/10.1
[4]
gopher://auzymoto.net:70/0/glog/post0011
[5]
gopher://grex.org:70/0/~tfurrows/phlog/2018/NOV2018/adv_replies.txt
[6]
https://lobste.rs/s/wilg8x/defensive_programming_can_hide_bugs
[7]
gopher://gopher.floodgap.com:70/7/v2/vs
[8]
gopher://i-logout.cz:70/1/en/bongusta/
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