[COFF] Re: [TUHS] Re: the wheel of reincarnation goes sideways

[Dan Cross <crossd@gmail.com>]

On Tue, Aug 1, 2023 at 12:28 PM Grant Taylor via COFF <coff@tuhs.org> wrote:
> On 8/1/23 10:55 AM, Dan Cross wrote:
> > Interesting. I don't really get the point of the Gopher revival, to be
> > honest;
>
> Retro? Reminiscence?

I guess?

> > sure, I get that people want non-graphical, non-ad-laden content,
> > but it sure seems like you could get something like that with the
> > web just using a text-mode browser like `lynx` or even `links` and
> > something like `gomarkdown`.
>
> Presumably people are creating new content to use in the newer Gopher
> sphere, etc.
>
> So if people are creating new content, why can't they create the same
> content in simple no-add HTML.

Exactly. There are even pre-baked things one could put together that
would serve much the same purpose. Going back to gopher et al seem
like throwing out the baby with the bathwater. A small HTTP server
that serves a little subtree of files on some random port and
automatically renders markdown or something into trivial HTML is
really all one needs.

> > It's like the people who want to use Fidonet as an "alternative"
> > to email. I mean, one can use the same protocols in parallel with
> > the mainstream services.
>
> I was pawing at FidoNet (or other FTNs) as an alternative to SMTP
> specifically because it was not SMTP.

Tell that to the Fidonet people. :-)

> Not that anything's wrong with SMTP to prevent it's use.  My interest is
> in the form of avoiding a single protocol failure.

I don't see what the protocol has to do with it, but sure.

        - Dan C.