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Technology, (sdf.org), 08/11/2018
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A few years ago I realized, to my dismay, that my use of the
www was largely limited to a list of websites that
automagically populated in my browser's start page. I can't
recall which browser I was using at the time, but it was
probably Firefox or Opera or Chrome. This very channeled
usage wasn't something I consciously chose, but rather it
was a behavior that was engineered.
Of course, I further realized that any broader use of the
internet I had was also engineered, this time by search
engine overlords. I had a few choices, but in every case my
experience and the information I could access was
controlled.
It's a far reach, but I was thinking today about my use of
gopher in similar terms. I am lazy by nature, and in the
case of gopher it is my own laziness that controls my
consumption. I like to follow bongusta[1]. It gives me a
cross-section of gopher without any effort on my part. And
most of the time, I don't dig much further.
Of course, I do have my own lists as well, and I have
bookmarked (in VF-1[2], where else?) lists that other people
maintain. VF-1 let's me "tour" these lists without much
effort. But even there, I mostly use bongusta, because I'm
lazy- really lazy. If I wanted to be more fair, I'm also
pressed for time frequently, but I do have the same hours in
a day that anyone else has.
The obvious difference between my use of the www back then,
and my use of gopher now, is *who* is controlling,
directing, massaging, and engineering my experience. I
voluntarily allow user logout at i-logout.cz control what I
consume. I trust him(?) explicitly to provide content based
on loose shared interests, without any other agenda. I never
willfully granted any such trust to Google with the www.
The conclusion to these meanderings is that while I was
dismayed at my discovery of the power of automagic
bookmarking and speed dial back in the day, I was not at all
dismayed when I thought on my gopher consumption methods
today. I do want to consume more, and search and dig more,
and read more, and reply more; but none of this causes me
dismay, nor do I feel a deep need to radically alter my
usage. I'm happy with the way gopher works, with the way the
clients work, with the way that people's lists work. I just
feel good when I use gopher. I can't say that I feel that
way at all with the www, no matter how I use it.
[1]
gopher://i-logout.cz:70/1/en/bongusta
[2]
gopher://circumlunar.space:70/0/~solderpunk/files/vf1.py
