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       gopher rings
       August 11th, 2018
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       From ze libertine gamer [0] on Mastodon:
 (DIR) [0] ze libertine gamer
       
       <zlg> Places like Bongusta and phlogroll remind me of web-rings
       from the 1990s. Let's name'em gopher-rings, or perhaps gopher dens
       if we want to be cute. They serve the same function: building
       a network with volunteer participants (the curation process) and
       technology that empowers the individual (self-hosting and
       moku-pona). What do you think, #gopher?
       
       tfurrows [1] also posted a semi-related phlog [2] today on
       favorites and the tools that engineer our interactions.
 (DIR) [1] tfurrows - sdf
 (TXT) [2] tfurrows - favorites
       
       - - - - - - - -
       
       I started thinking about a response on Mastodon, but my head
       flooded with too many things to fit in 500 characters. A phlog is
       a better medium, I think.
       
       In the nascent web we had many ways of finding each other and
       other content that seems archaic or obtuse in retrospect. In the
       very earliest days I kept a paper notebook where I manually wrote
       down email addresses and websites. Later web-rings became popular
       ways to link like-content to one another, forming communities from
       the ether. By the time search engines came online we had all sorts
       of other ways to bridge the gaps.
       
       I think back to my time using AltaVista, or Lycos, or Yahoo!,
       finding them awkward and lacking, and returning to the advice of
       a webring or forum to find real relevant sites. I would cast
       a broader net using a meta-search engine like SavvySearch and
       click through pages and pages of results. That method of exploring
       the web didn't take over in prominance for me, personally, until
       Google began their takeover.
       
       Web-rings fell to the wayside quickly as "googling" entered the
       lexicon, and I don't think I consciously realized the
       "engineering" or "channeled usage", as tfurrows puts it, was so
       broadly affecting my behavior until very recently. In my head,
       search engines are tools and I use them. If I am careful to avoid
       tracking behaviors, they don't use me, right?
       
       Well, maybe not. Google's algorithms, or a browser's "favorites"
       screen guides our hand and our habits in a major way. We engage
       with what we see and what we find, and that is a power that
       shouldn't be forgotten.
       
       So, thinking on ze libertine gamer's idea, I think the gopher
       aggregators, the gopher-rings, are very much a throwback to the
       old days when communities were more manually linked to one
       another. There is still a power inherent in the tools we use, no
       different than Google wields, or Firefox, but because it's curated
       by participants in the community (like me!), I feel better about
       it. Our micro-aggregators aren't monolithic. Anyone can run one,
       thanks to the awesome utilities shared around the community.
       
       My phlog roll [3] began as a personal tool for me to track the
       phlogs I read. It's become a very popular starting point for
       others as well, and so I added some language to the top on how to
       get new sites added. Inclusion on my aggregator is open to all, as
       long as your phlog is in a format that moku-pona can handle.
       I don't want to be a barrier to finding gopher content; I want to
       be an easy entry-point. 
       
 (DIR) [3] gopher.black phlog roll
       
       Have a site that you want added? Drop me an email at one of the
       addresses in my contact page on this gopher hole, or reach out on
       Mastodon. I try to watch SDF, grex, and the tilde communities for
       new holes that pop up so I can add them quickly. I generally wait
       until a phlog has at least two posts before I add it to avoid the
       "hello world" phenomenon that litters SDF. Just hit me up if you
       see something missing.