******************************** Gopher Advocacy - a few thoughts ******************************** In general, when you tell people that you run a Gopher server, there may be one or more predictable reactions, often depending on the age of that person. Older geeks may well smile and nod in approval, while younger geeks may just give you a blank look. Others just don't get it. I got it, and I'm a big gopher fan! So here's a selection of the WHYs from around the Internet. "Probably the most common question is WHY?!? Gopher died in 1995, why would one program a brand new gopher server in 2002 (2014) ? 1. Gopher is a clean and simple protocol; it took weeks to program our web server, yet it took only a few hours to program our gopher server. 2. Gopher is seriously fast; there's nothing but raw content. 3. But most importantly, Gopher is a cool reminder of what the Internet once was, a fast and efficient information service." Via: gopher.semmel.ch "..by divorcing interface from information, Gopher sites stand and shine on the strength of their content and not the glitz of their bling" "No graphic design means its the ideal navigable interface, a hypertext Eden," wrote Karger. "It gives simplified usage for sight-impaired users, same contents for wired/wiredless, and requires no capital investments in layout and 'design.' Gopher is real, and it was fully functional in 1992 (2014), even without advertisements" "Gopher's advantages lie in the structure that its simple menu-based interface imposes on content. Gopher is a mind-set on making structure out of chaos: within Gopherspace, all Gophers work the same way and all Gophers organize themselves around similar menus and interface constraints. It is not only easy and fast to create Gopher content in this structured and organized way, it is mandatory by its nature.. Gopher takes the strict hierarchical nature of a file tree or FTP and turns it into a friendlier format that still gives the fast and predictable responses that they would get by simply browsing their hard drive" Via: Cameron Kaiser, Floodgap.com