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| | |  Phlog: Eightbitswide
| | |   
| | |  Date: 3/1/24
| | |  Subject: Why Gopher
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  v    Created on the Agon, a z80 based single board computer.
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Why Gopher?

To understand why I'm attracted to gopher, you need to understand
a little about my personal history with telecommunications.  I was
a BBS (Bulletin Board System) Sysop (System Operator) in the 80s.
I ran several C64 BBS programs like SCBBS, Cnet, 6502, and HAL BBS.
These online micro worlds, provided an outlet for creative writing,
message bases for debate and communication, online games, and
of course file upload and downloading.

I was part of the dial-up internet in the early 90s, with speeds of
33.6K and 56K modem connections.  At the time, you could download
radar weathermaps and see the status of a coffee pot online.
Eventually, services for creating your own personal websites became
avaible.  Hand-coded HTML would allow us to create our own websites,
complete with "Under Construction" graphics since they were never
really considered finished.

Fast forward 30 years.  The internet is largely indexed and controlled
by AI bots managed by large corporations who's only interest is to
collect as much personal data on each of us to sell advertising.
Speaking of ads.  They have gone from horizontal banners at the bottom
of the page to unlimited ads embedded in the pages as you scroll.

When is the last time you visited a website that wasn't script
generated by some corporate interest?   The personal internet of
days gone by isn't gone, it's maintained by gopher.   The pages you
are surfing right now are a great example.   No ads, no AI generated
pages, no tracking, just you and information.  

So go ahead, discuss anything you want while surfing this site.
We aren't collecting data on you.  Just remember, your phone is.

This is WHY GOPHER.

-8b