________  ________  ________
   2019-05-30                                   /        \/        \/    /   \
                                               /       __/         /_       _/
   These last few weeks I've seen  a handful  /        _/         /         /
of   people  discovering  Gopher  which   is  \_______/_\___/____/\___/____/_
fantastic. Doubly fantastic  because they've    /        \/        \/    /   \
not  come   through   the  usual   channels.   /        _/         /_       _/
Generally  when  I see someone new pop up in  /-        /        _/         /
on  Gopher  they've entered via  SDF  or the  \________/\________/\___/____/
tildesphere but of the recent few I've seen,
two have been drawn  in through the YouTube Linux community  and  one  just  I
don't know, just curiosity I suppose.

   This  file  wasn't  isn't  really  in  response  to  them  directly  and  I
wholeheartedly welcome them to the underground, the more the merrier, but some
of  the cross talk  in the comments  on  one of  the videos  reminded me of  a
similar situation that  happened earlier  this  year and I kinda wanted to get
this off my chest.

   Gopher has a reputation as a dead or forgotten protocol and a lot of people
who rediscover it, maybe not them directly but the  people they're  discussing
it with or in some  cases their fan base, do so with an  attitude that they're
going to "bring  it  back"  but gopher  was  always here, and the  idea that a
blogger, musician or talking head on  social media or  in the comments section
is going to "bring it back" gets my back up somewhat.

   I've been  here for a little while, FAX SEX is closing in on two  years and
the baud.baby is about a month  from its first birthday, but that isn't really
very long when  you  consider the  SDF  alone  has had users providing  Gopher
content fairly  consistently  for,  what, 13-14  years? Yes, compared  to  the
surface web it's microscopic but you can't look at that wealth of  content and
say with a straight face that Gopher is dead or forgotten.

   Again, I've got no desire to be any kind of gatekeeper, I absolutely  don't
want  to dissuade  anyone  from  jumping into  Gopher and know  no  one can be
expected  to know  everything  about  everything, I  just feel that if  you're
coming  in to an existing space you should do your due  diligence and  immerse
yourself  in and learn about  the  space and  its inhabitants  before crowning
yourself the savior they didn't really need.

   In that same  vein, so frequently these fair weather visitors bring nothing
to Gopher for Gopher, often patting themselves on the back for mirroring their
web presence  or similar. This is, in my opinion, not what Gopher needs and is
certainly not a good way to generate long-term interest. You might find one or
two  Gopher users who appreciate  being able  to  access  your content without
leaving their comfort zone but that's preaching to the choir. Of those already
accessing your content via the Web, a handful might check the Gopher space out
for  the novelty  but  not many are likely to become Gopher converts. It helps
very little to "bring gopher back".

   Gopher needs users and advocates, absolutely, but more than anything I feel
it needs people creating content for Gopher, people who make it more than just
a low-fi shadow of  the Web.  If you  want  to "bring gopher back" you need to
give people a reason to come with  you you on the journey, beyond just novelty
or curiosity.

   Lastly,  Gopher needs community and has community, and if  you're intention
is to "bring  it back"  you'll  need to find that. Gopher  space is small, not
everyone  knows everyone  but  everyone knows  someone  who  knows someone and
though you don't have to be part of the community you need to acknowledge that
this community  exists and that you're  coming into an  occupied  space, not a
blank canvas for you to project  your idea of Gopher onto. You will not "bring
gopher back" alone, you'll be effecting the people who are already there.

   One last  time, I  don't  mean any hostility here,  join Gopher, tell  your
subscribers, tell your  audience, tell  your mom, but I love Gopher and I want
to see it thrive. Leading  by claiming it's a dead  or abandoned  protocol  or
treating it  as  a  punchline doesn't  feel like  the right way  to  do it and
doesn't sit well with me.



EOF