_____ __________ ______ / ___// ____/ __ \/ ____/______ ______ ___ ____ \__ \/ __/ / / / / / __/ ___/ / / / __ `__ \/ __ \ ___/ / /___/ /_/ / /_/ / / / /_/ / / / / / / /_/ / /____/_____/\____/\____/_/ \__,_/_/ /_/ /_/ .___/ /_/ ╭⋟─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮ | | | TITLE: Gopher vs. Gemini | | | | DATE: May 5, 2025 | | | | AUTHOR: grump@seogrump.com | | | ╰─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────⋞╯ I'm a regular reader of the Old Vintage Computing Research blog [1], but I had no idea until recently that OldVCR was just a side project of a much larger thing called Floodgap [2]. Browsing around Floodgap, I discovered a proxy that allowed me to explore gopherspace without installing a standalone client. I was a little familiar with gopher. My local university had a gopher server, and I poked around it a few times 30-odd years ago -- but it wasn't enough to tear me away from the BBS scene. Then, a little thing called Mosaic came out. That was enough to tear me -- and most others -- away from BBSs and gopher for good. Browsing gopherspace reminded me of a new low-fi web-like protocol (gemini) that I'd read about a few years ago and had been meaning to investigate. I downloaded the Lagrange browser [3] -- which conveniently supports both gemini and gopher -- and immediately had access to a world of content presented exactly the way I like it. All text, no ads, no tracking and no AI slop. After exploring voraciously for a while, I decided that I wanted to try my hand at producing content for either gemini or gopher. It's significantly easier to get started with both of them than it is to produce content for the web, and I don't write web content unless it's for a client anyway. Otherwise, I'm endlessly frustrated by the current state of the web and wouldn't ever bother posting personal content on it. I've seen gemini sites and gopherholes that look amazing and are a pleasure to use, but sites that crosspost to both don't seem to play to the strengths of either and don't look nearly as nice. So, I wanted to choose one or the other. From the perspective of a relative rookie, these are my thoughts on gopher vs. gemini. WHY GOPHER? ◤◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤ - Although laying out the content isn't quite as easy and pages may not look quite as beautiful, I gravitate toward gopher as a user because that seems to be the best place to find the content I want to read. I appreciate the blend of personal and informative content, whereas gemini seems to be almost entirely personal. Many of the attempts to turn gemini into a platform for something more than blogging seem to have been abandoned. - Gopher is definitely not going away. Gemini is much newer. Although I'm new to gemini, it looks to me like it's in a bit of a lull after the initial explosion in popularity a few years ago. It's hard to tell whether the user base is growing or shrinking or where the community is headed. On the other hand, my observations suggest that the gopher user base is definitely growing. - The volume of content on gopher is enormous. Exploring it really recaptures the thrill of the early web, back when you had no idea what interesting things you might find. Remember when people used to post content with no financial motivations? WHY GEMINI? ◤◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤ - Subjectively, gemini is more beautiful. I love great typography, and gemini content is a joy to read. - With gemini, it's easier to create content in a way that looks uniform on all clients. Some of the tricks that make gopherholes look nice may not work on all clients. - Gemini is possibly more private since it supports encryption. I'm operating under the assumption that gopher is essentially private since the powers that be probably don't care about it, but I might be wrong about that. WHY I CHOSE GOPHER ◤◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤ Ultimately, I chose gopher because I want my content to live in the same space with the content that I actually read. Since I began my adventures into the #smolweb -- a term I don't really like and probably won't use again -- I've bookmarked many gopherholes and only a handful of gemini sites. So, gopher it is. [1] https://oldvcr.blogspot.com/ [2] https://www.floodgap.com/ [3] https://gmi.skyjake.fi/lagrange/ ╰─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────⋞╯