20230828-someone_doesnt_get_gopher.txt
I was wandering around on Gopherspace this morning and came across a
new hole, as per usual when I go burrowing. It was listed on the
Gopher Lawn and the latest glog entry[0] caught my eye.
This user (c64 from now on) was considering leaving Zaibatsu. No real
gripes from me, but I was wondering why. I open it up and it's clear
c64 wanted more engagement... on Gopher. I was slightly floored by the
fact a software engineer didn't really get that Gopher isn't generally
about engagement or stats. A previous entry[1] indicated he got two
emails from readers. To me, that's quite a bit of engagement for the
Smolnet. Maybe not Oprah numbers, but still something. But he wanted
more. What?
He had set up a temporary email address to contact him (a little
weird), but his entries had no date attached to them so my best bet
was to check the last modified date on Zaibatsu's recent glog updates
page. This was supposedly done in late 2020. I don't hold out hope
that he has access to the temp address, not that I necessarily would
have emailed him. But that last entry truly made me believe that this
user simply didn't "get" Gopher. He basically said there's not enough
engagement (I mean, sure?) and it's difficult to maintain (I disagree,
unless you're doing some very hacky stuff like trying to add comments
for every glog entry). The preference for... cataloging visitors was
another big red sign saying this guy doesn't get it. It seems like he
expected a mostly-text WWW. It's weird as I've never seen someone with
actual Gopher content not understand the protocol, why it is, and how
it works.
I'm sure there are more never-nudes than people who read this glog,
but I don't expect it to be popular or a good space for "engagement."
0.
gopher://zaibatsu.circumlunar.space/0/%7ecardboard64/phlog/07-considering-leaving.txt
1.
gopher://zaibatsu.circumlunar.space/0/%7ecardboard64/phlog/05-readership-results.txt
