So as well as Gopher, there are other "minimalist" internet protocols for serving you conter, and one of them is Gemini, which is slowly increasing in popularity, especially in the Linux community.
As well as creating a Gopher hole, I decided to make my site as a Gemini Capsule as well.
Well, there's actually quite a few reasons why one might consider hosting on Gemini in the modern day, from the retro sheek to the very intentional usage and being free from tracking and the modern bloated internet.
I'll outline my reasons below ...... hope you've got some time!
This is a really quick one, and probably my most favoured one on the list ....... the nostalgia. Who doesn't like a bit of nostalgia?
There's always someone who appreciates the way we used to do things, what they look like, the minimisation and all that jazz
But keep in mind, Gemini is actually a modern protocol, it is only inspired by Gopher
Have you ever tried to access the web from a low spec machine?
Maybe you're using a netbook? Or you've always liked the idea of getting that really old PC or that Commodore Amiga online?
Well, for a lot of these lower specced systems, the modern web is pretty much unusable, very slow, frustrating and outright broken sometimes.
That's where Gemini comes in, but see my next reason too
The modern web is so bloated these days. I remember a day when browsing the web was a lightweight task, but not nowadays.
Most websites are full of javascript, addons, adverts, autoplaying videos and music, cookies ....... it all mounts up.
Gemini, due to it's limitations, is free from all of that. Hell, Gemini is usable on a Commodore Amiga (yeah, there's a Gemini client for the Amiga)
The modern web is so full of distractions these days, from the annoying autoplaying videos, the adverts and social media.
A lot of the time this is all just click bait, made to get readers and viewers to poor quality content, or, to track users around the internet and sell their data.
Now, Gemini doesn't have a lot of this - due to the minimalist design of the protocol, it's not possible to put big intrusive adverts into a page hosted on Gemini ...... it's text only, it doesn't allow this sort of thing.
Of course, quality content is kind of subjective, and Gemini does not resolve this, poor content is poor content, regardless of how it is delivered, but, it's less likely for some sort of content highlighted above.
Yeah, that's the thing, because Gopher is mostly just text, you actually have to want to read the content, as there's not pretty inline pictures or other distractions.
Because of this, the content people host has to be somewhat better quality, to keep people engaged, and as a result, you will take more of the information in.
There's no "tracking cookies", no "privacy policies" and nobody is stealing your credit card data behind the scenes.
Yet again, Gemini's minimalist design doesn't allow a lot of these things that track you around the internet. There's no "big tech" company spying on your data and trying to sell you something based on the content you have consumed.
It's baked into the Gemini protocol, in fact, there's no "non-secure" version, you need an SSL/TLS cert attached to your Gemini capsule, but, you can use a self-signed cert if you want
Isn't this why we do anything in life?
For some of us, the geeks, the nerds, the tech enthusiasts, the retro enthusiasts and those that like a bit of nostalgia, well, we enjoy this kind of thing, this is fun for us.
I hope this has helped you understand why I've made this.
More resources can be found here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemini_(protocol) - WIkipedia Article
https://geminiprotocol.net - Project Gemini website
https://geminiquickst.art - Gemini Quick Start
There's even DT's video about Gemini, if you fancy watching that.