These are a handful of notes about the Gopher protocol. It accidentally took the shape of an FAQ while being written.
What's Gopher?
To oversimplify, Gopher was a precursor of the Web, that fell by the wayside for various reasons. Nowadays considered obsolete, it's kept alive by a handful of fans, not just out of nostalgia but also its genuine qualities.
Gopher is much simpler than the web?. It uses less bandwidth, processing power and screen space. It's still largely text-based, so you won't have to deal with annoying ads (or any kind of script for that matter). Gopher is limited, but what it can do, it does quickly, cleanly and with no fuss.
Why does it matter?
Because the internet is turning into a web-based monoculture, and every monoculture is a disaster waiting to happen.
Who's on Gopher?
Oh, a bunch of different parties:
- Floodgap Systems is basically Gopher's town square.
- quux.org is a vast archive of digital history.
- The Tildeverse has a significant Gopher presence.
But also interesting personal projects like The Cyber Vanguard and Voice of Mercury.
There are only a few hundred gopherholes, as they're called, but they hide a few gems.
How do I get there?
Lightweight browsers like Lynx or Kristall have Gopher support. For Android there used to be a client called Pocket Gopher, but it's gone from F-Droid. A viable alternative is running Lynx in Termux.
The public Gopher proxy at Floodgap Systems can be used from any other web browser. The same page offers an introduction to the protocol.
Where to find out more
In addition to the above page, mari's Gopher Repository has some information. If you already have a client, GopherProject.org also provides a number of starting points.