Paper IO                                                      02/15/24
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My son  was playing on  paper-io.com and I  thought I'd join  him this
morning just  for kicks. I used  the name 'tfurrows', and  was tickled
when some other random person signed  in with my real name, 'joelyman'
as their username (due to ham radio, my name isn't all that secret, as
you probably know). My  son was blown away by it,  like there was some
glitch in the matrix, but it didn't  shock me, really. I told him that
I had a lot of friends who were  computer geeks, and that I was a part
of several unix  servers filled with people who might  play games like
that.

Anyway,  he was  wide-eyed  and  impressed that  someone  on the  wild
internet might  recognize his  dad's username.  Thanks for  helping me
blow my kid's mind, random stranger!

I really  wanted to tie this  back to a  gopher post I read  the other
day, but  I'm having a  hard time finding the  link at the  moment. In
that  post, the  author was  talking  about gopherspace  as a  primary
social circle; at least, I think  that's what it was. While gopher and
public  access unix  aren't  my main  social  opportunities, they  are
certainly important to  me. I love the pace,  the togetherness without
the pulling  that comes  with in-person interaction.  I don't  love it
more than personal interaction, just differently.

Like dreams: I love my dreams, usually. They feel amazing. But they're
nothing like life; I don't really  compare the two, because they're so
entirely separate.  Just because  dreams aren't  life, doesn't  mean I
can't love them. I don't mean to  belabor the point, it just felt like
something to make clear.

Certainly, I'm aware  of a giant sense of lack  out there, among many.
I'm a member over  at tilde.town, for example, and I  see in the feels
section  many who  are depressed,  lonely, drifting,  etc. And  so, if
someone feels like they like gopher or pubnix better than what life is
offering in the way of socialization  right now, I'm not going to tell
them they're wrong.  But I can't help hoping that  they find something
more out in  the world. If I  were nearby, I'd invite them  over for a
board game or a movie, to get things rolling.

And what about  caring for others? Society is built  on that. I'd call
it love,  but that word is  disputed territory these days  (along with
hate), and I don't  wish to be unclear. I believe  society is built on
caring for other people. Gopher and  pubnix are no different. The most
recent example that  comes to mind is SDF user  and anonradio host Tob
having a stroke.  It was announced in BBOARD by  another user, and the
outpouring of  love--said I wouldn't use  it, but it is  clear in this
context--was enormous. I don't really know Tob, but I cared for him in
that moment. Shouldn't that happen in a society?

Perhaps all I  mean by that is that even  though this isn't meatspace,
perhaps gopher and unix and being  together digitally IS quite real. I
know, it's been said before. But I was thinking about it this morning.

I hope you're all well, gopher and pubnix friends.