It's weird, right? All across the internet I see this notion.
A meme almost, a the Dawkinsian meme: gopher is where I can be
true. Be honest. Be myself. Bear my truth for this tiny, tiny subset
of the world to see.
But why? Is there inherent intimacy in the obscure? Gopher is in some
senses a secret society. Few know of it. Of thos who do most know it
only as a wikipedia entry, a long-dead could-have-been trampled in
the gold rush of the world wide web which, so the amazed announced in
the 1990's, let you embed pictures. It was multimedia. I don't know
that that's why. As happy a marriage as I wish Willow and Edward
(cheers if y'all read this,) that doesn't mean I know them in any real
capacity.
and yet I see it. Gopher is softer. Gopher is more intimate. Gopher
is where the soul lives.
I blame the inescapable burning eye. We (the collective) used to post
these things on the web. You can still find them if you look, but
even when I do I hesitate to post them on the directory.
Once a friend of mine defaced another mutual friend's site for a
prank. All of our websites were hosted on a server in my shed at
the time. We defaced his meaner and quicker, and we cost him a job.
Even 15 year ago the web had consequences for a system administrator.
It has all the more now that any recruiter will slurp my entire
digital life for pennies, seeking unprofessional. I worry about that
with my book reviews sometimes. Will I be shot down for reading
Kropotkin? No, that's silly; he's too obscure. Still the worry
persists.
Gopher never caught the commercial imagination. It wasn't possible
to build your "brand" here. It's useless to the vast data warehouses.
It's not that we're safe here, but we're ignored. That's about as
good as one can hope for these days.
