[gopher] History and future of "the gopher project"

[Walter Vermeir]

Op 11-01-15 om 11:21 schreef Mateusz Viste:

> About this - why are we all using this mailing list in the first place?
> There have been a dedicated nntp group for gopher since forever:
> comp.infosystems.gopher but surprisingly, this mailing list is much more
> active.

I did not knew that. But that a mailing list is more popular then usenet 
is no surprise. You have already have to look at something as gopher to 
find an internet service that is more obscure at present then usenet.

> Me personally, I am not a huge fan of mailing lists, and I prefer
> newsgroups, seeing them as a much more efficient and superior
> communication tool than forwarding mails to xxxxxx people around the world.

Also a fan of NNTP, but a (mailman) mailinglist is at least a lot better 
then just sending e-mails with a lot of people in TO or CC.

> So why do people use mailing lists (and the gopher mailing list in
> particular), instead of NNTP? Is it because it's more convenient for
> some to use a mailing list than it is to configure a nntp client? (note,
> that Thunderbird does both very well).

My ISP, one of the two largest of the country in Belgium, does not offer 
usenet anymore. I know only one who still does it, a very small one.

I have a free account for usenet from these people; text only, but you 
have to ask for an account.
http://news.albasani.net/info/imprint.html.en


> If that's the reason, then maybe we could imagine having some kind of
> gateway that would duplicate content from this mailing list to
> comp.infosystems.gopher, and vice-versa, so everyone could use what he
> likes most? Or, a step even further, replace this list with a mail
> gateway to comp.infosystems.gopher ?

This mailinglist is using mailman. I have never used that function of 
mailman but mailman supports the function to act as an two way gateway 
to a usenet-group.

All postings to this list can be posted automaticly to usenet. And, 
optionally, postings to a specific usenet-group can also be send to this 
mailing lists. (open door for spam I believe)

So if there is the wish the technical means seem to be present. It is 
only a matter of enabling the function in the control panel of mailman 
of this list.


Walter