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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