<=^= THE SKYDOCK =^=> OmegaPaladin's Gopherhole Welcome to my corner of the Underground Internet. Gopher used to be the way to access information online. Before the World Wide Web, there was a powerful protocol for accessing information and directories online. I remember seeing guidance on Gopher citations for academic papers. Then the Web happened. So why use Gopher? No Ads. No spyware. Just straightforward plain text. Gopher runs like lightning over any connection, even dialup. I will be duplicating a lot of this on a Gemini capsule, as I like the idea behind Gemini, and it has a bit more flexibility. Search all Gopherspace (QRY) Search Veronica-2 (DIR) My Gopherlog - welcome to the Phlogosphere (HTM) Ricochet One of my hobbies is working as a Ricochet moderator and poster. Ricochet is membership-drived site where most of the content is written by members, and we have a Code of Conduct to keep things from degenerating. My work there has been linked by major bloggers, including Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit. One of my favorite parts of Ricochet is the fictional writing by various members. I decided to create a general archive of Ricochet fiction here. (DIR) Ricochet Fiction Archive Shortened links for the Ricochet Fiction Archive (DIR) Gopher! (HTM) Web Proxy! <-----------------------------------------------------------------> Useful text files archived: (TXT) Character Survival Advice (HTM) Originally from Written by Willem Van Driel based on many suggestions, this delightful text guide vanished into the ether. I am preserving in on Gopher <-----------------------------------------------------------------> From the Ashes is a Sci-Fi play by post game that I help run on SpaceBattles.com, a vBulletin webforum. (HTM) You can access the subforum here: (DIR) From the Ashes 2.0 Rules in elegant retro plaintext. Shortened links for the FTA Retro Rules (DIR) Gopher! (HTM) Web Proxy! <-----------------------------------------------------------------> So how do you get involved with the Underground Internet? First, it's a good idea to learn about Gopher. Quux and Floodgap are the hubs of Gopherspace, and have plenty of useful information. Floodgap has detailed information on Gopher clients (DIR) gopher.floodgap.com (DIR) gopher.quux.org I recommend using OverbiteFF with Pale Moon, a web browser that is like Firefox without the bloat and keeping the classic interface. They play well together. (HTM) Pale Moon (HTM) OverbiteFF Then you can get an account on SDF.org, a public access UNIX server, which has plenty of things to do besides Gopher. You will need to be verified, which only takes a few bucks (DIR) gopher://phlogosphere.org Make sure to read up on MKGOPHER and study the guides on the Gopher server. It's easy to write, especially compared to HTML, but you need to have a cheat sheet for the syntax for making Gophermaps, which are the equivalent to webpages. (DIR) Gopher Server Guide (DIR) Example Gophermap (TXT) Gophermap for what you are reading now