From: gopher-bounce@complete.org
       Date: Mon Aug 11 01:20:51 2008
       Subject: [gopher] A new convert to gopher!
       
       Sorry about going off-topic from the current discussion threads, but I
       just wanted to share a small anecdote about a recent gopher convert.
       
       My wife is a typical computer user:  She can navigate a browser, but
       if you mentioned "gopher" to her she'd think of the animal, not the
       protocol, and no amount of explaining would change the fact that
       gopher is, in fact, an animal.
       
       I recently discovered Cameron's weather forecasts that he is carrying on
       floodgap (gopher://gopher.floodgap.com/1/groundhog).  I know my wife
       is always watching the weather, so on a lark I sent her this link and
       asked her what she thought about it.  The conversation went something
       like this:
       
       Her: "This is pretty cool...does it update?"
       Me: "Yep...every 2 hours a new forecast comes out."
       Her: "Where are the popups?"
       Me: [pointedly avoiding the word 'gopher'] "Well, this is a site that
       eliminates all that."
       Her: "So this updates automatically?  And I don't have to deal with
       clicking on a lot of links and popups?"
       Me: "Nope...here, I'll make it easy for you." [helpfully puts link in
       toolbar]
       Her: "Very cool...looks like it's going to rain tonight!  You'll need
       to bring the grill in, and clear the back table, and..."
       
       At any rate:  A new gopher convert.  It was that simple:  Just showing
       here something she's not seen before.  Never in a thousand years
       would she have stumbled upon this on her own.  And I believe she
       represents the typical computer user:  Unless there is some
       handholding involved, it will be unlikely such a user will ever
       discover gopher on their own. 
       
       Just a small anecodote that demonstrates how easy it could be to gain
       new gopher converts.  Granted, this is a very tiny case study that is
       by no means generalizable across the population of computer users, but
       I figure if I was able to get one new person hooked on one aspect of
       gopher, there's no reason to believe there aren't others out there who
       will be receptive to the message.
       
         --Brian
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