RE: Whither pubnixes?
2018-12-10 9:48pm

cmcabe recently  updated their  phlog with a  wonderful entry[0]
that wonders after the current state, and potential future(s) of
pubnix servers.  

When I was in my early  teens in the  early/mid 90s I used a few
bulletin board systems  via dial up, generally running  wildcat.
Then the world wide web started to gain in popularity and I went
with that trend, creating geocities and  angelfire sites for the
bands I  played in.  All was well...  or well enough.  As I have
detailed in other phlog updates, I came to pubnix via gopher.  I
was/am pretty  disillusioned  with "the web" as  it stands right
now.  I read about  gopher and thought:  that sounds like what I
have been missing!  I started building  out a client  for myself
in order  to experience  gopherspace  (I  like  building  my own
tools). Through gopherspace I found my way to SDF. SDF was cool,
but the comminity was not exactly what I was looking for. It was
too big, but did  offer some  cool things.  Through SDF  I found 
circumlunar.space. I have really enjoyed the community here, and
was inspired to make my own server[1] (as mentioned by cmcabe in
their phlog entry).

That catches us up to now.  cmcabe used the term micro-pubnix. I
think that fits really well, and I will likely use it. I work as
a web developer and have always lamented a lack of  easy ability
to host at  home and control  my own information  dissemination. 
Gopher and  ssh are  less locked  down by my ISP.  The amount of
data transfer  seems to fly under their radar,  so far at least.
It feels good to control my own services.  I have yet to attract
many users  (just a few friends that  are testing things out for
me,  but dont really get it),  but am ready for any that arrive.

I do wonder what the future will hold for small Pi based servers
like mine. I think if software can be developed to connect these
types of  systems without  homogenizing the offerings  that make
these small  spaces unique,  then  there could  be a really cool
future in store for these types of systems. Without that though,
I worry that various ones will  come and go as their communities
grow and die...(an inevitable part of any kind of social space).

I do plan on  adding a calendar,  note taking,  and some form of
private messaging (adding server federation if possible). At the
very least,  those things will add usability  for me and help to
offset my departure from google as a service provider.

I really hope  that more people  decide to  take control  of the
software and systems they use. All in all, it was pretty easy to
set up most of the pi server stuff. I get that not everyone will
set up a server with the same level of ease,  but I really think
that a  reasonablt determined person  of any background COULD do
so.  I'm sure it will not become the regular thing for  everyone
anytime soon, but if those of us that have the ability to create
and promote these kinds of spaces actually decide to do so, then
I  think  we  will see  growth  as  more and  more  people  grow
frustrated with the state of affairs on the web.

I just hope that communities can stay healthy in the process and
provide a good  space for those that need it.  I love the wildly
different  offerings  people  have  created. Lots  of  different
flavors mean more people have a good chance of finding what they
are looking for. I do think that interserver communication  will
become more and more  important as things grow.  While providing
services that connect servers, admins will want to be careful to
not offer that in lieu of local content. The local content gives
character and creates community, which are the strong points  of
many current systems.  Adding inter-server communication creates
convenience,  but at the cost of  potentially watering down your 
local community/culture.  It will be a careful balance,  and I'm
sure a number of servers will rise and fall while trying to find
a good balance.

I am hopeful that things will keep moving in a good direction.


[0] gopher://circumlunar.space:70/0/~cmccabe/06-hexachlorophene.txt
[1] gopher://colorfield.space:70/