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Gemini
Project Gemini (FAQ) has been getting a lot of attention in the fediverse lately. I don’t know much about it myself, but I am increasingly curious after reading the specs and motivation for it. It might be fun to make a small site using this protocol.
Lagrange is decent GUI for macOS for browsing ‘geminispace’, apparently.
Last edited by Destry (2020-11-14 09:23:47)
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Re: Gemini
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Re: Gemini
A gemini site has a URI like gemini//domain.tld.
As mentioned earlier, you need a special browser like Lagrange to access/read such sites.
The domain can be one that is already owned and used for a http site, apparently, so no need to buy extra domains, for example:
- https://xhrpb.com/
- gemini//xhrpb.com
(Hope that person doesn’t mind.)
Gemini sites are mainly text-oriented (notes, documentation, etc) but I’m not clear on the full scope of what people are doing yet. Linking is provided for in gemini docs.
I guess, for now, the use of this protocol might be handy for making info available to a limited audience while not being indexable or scrapeable by the regular web automatons. In other words, you don’t have to actively block spiders/bots/etc as you would otherwise if not wanted. At least not yet.
I think the real point of it though is to be a protocol that favours a much lighter internet, by not allowing all the media and dynamic bloat that the regular web succumbed to.
I wonder if archives like IA are storing gemini sites…
Last edited by Destry (2020-11-25 09:42:39)
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Re: Gemini
This was linked to from the previous article. It’s a good background explainer of the relationship between gopher, http, and gemini.
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Re: Gemini
Just had a play with it via Felicity gemini browser (which is available on the Mac App Store). Quite like it – although I’m not sure I have a use-case for it, personally, right now.
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Re: Gemini
philwareham wrote #327051:
Just had a play with it via Felicity gemini browser (which is available on the Mac App Store).
I was excited, then… ‘Requires 10.15 or higher.’ Drat! That seems counter to the whole point of this lighter alternative web. I’ll have to give LaGrange a closer look.
Quite like it – although I’m not sure I have a use-case for it, personally, right now.
Yeah, this is what I’m kicking around too. A few test pages are fine, but something a bit more purposeful would be nice.
One thing I’ve been struggling with anymore is wanting to invest in and maintain a personal blog, or whatever; not that I have really done that for a long time — and that’s what I mean.
On one hand I still like to write and edit and that’s really the only reason I keep a web presence anymore, because of my interest in word craft. On the other hand, I struggle to want to blog on a regular basis, and never post most of what I write. One of the reasons for that is today’s problems around privacy, scrapers, archivers, copyright, and so forth, but also because personal blogs just feel like a young person’s thing to do. I kind of feel silly doing it anymore, like the old man who’s outgrown the skateboard, if you see what I mean.
So I’ve been thinking maybe gemini might be the cool old man’s way of personal writing on the web again. Have a Txp site with a Gemini blog for those who can be bothered. ;)
Last edited by Destry (2020-11-25 18:23:41)
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Re: Gemini
Destry wrote #327061:
So I’ve been thinking maybe gemini might be the cool old man’s way of personal writing on the web again. Have a Txp site with a Gemini blog for those who can be bothered. ;)
i hear you. but why not just write occasionally on Wion.Com . That is already setup. With a very cool design and layout. Perhaps it can be made Gemini friendly, whatever that might mean.
…. texted postive
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Re: Gemini
Destry wrote #327061:
On one hand I still like to write and edit… On the other hand, I struggle to want to blog on a regular basis, and never post most of what I write.
Welcome to my world! You might be Atop the ladder of abstraction whereas I’m In the portakabin of procrastination.
maybe gemini might be the cool old man’s way of personal writing on the web again.
I’m definitely looking at this as a possibility. I suspect serving a section of my site using gemini:// is as easy as throwing <txp:header> in the section’s template and using judicial tags inside.
If I can choose a blog focus, instead of a catch-all like I have now, I might give it a shot. Gemini feels very much like using Lynx in those early days before Netscape Navigator arrived. Back when it was all about the content and not the graphics. And I love content.
The smd plugin menagerie — for when you need one more gribble of power from Textpattern. Bleeding-edge code available on GitHub.
Hire Txp Builders – finely-crafted code, design and Txp
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Re: Gemini
Yes, what bici wrote! Maybe you can “echo” your blog writings to Gemini?
Otherwise, though, the readership on gemini is probably/currently very restricted. The plus side may be you make more meaningful connections, but it will likely be less diverse.
I like mastodon for some of the same reasons – firstly, that it’s not run by twitter and secondly that there’s room for diversity – but I have to say, in my circle of connections at least, there is a more alternative crowd but it’s also actually (in my perception) less diverse. There’s still more intersections of diverse interests and chance discoveries to be had on Twitter, you just have to wade through quite a bit of noise in-between.
…but also because personal blogs just feel like a young person’s thing to do. I kind of feel silly doing it anymore, like the old man who’s outgrown the skateboard, if you see what I mean.
Only if you leave it to the youngsters. I’d say that’s all the more reason to have a blog at your age ;-) (by which I mean our). Besides, the youngfluencers of today just use video. Writing is still a valued craft.
One of the reasons for that is today’s problems around privacy, scrapers, archivers, copyright, and so forth …
I get that. You can, of course, leave out what might be too private and not publish what might be too copyright-worthy. But there’s a big space in-between.
I would have thought profiling is the larger problem. Stef uses a kind of “smokescreen strategy” on his site for that though I suspect more for humour than to deliberately befuddle search engines.
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Re: Gemini
jakob wrote #327069:
I suspect more for humour than to deliberately befuddle search engines.
Hehe, yeah. I did wonder if the constantly rolling titles and straplines would trick search engines into indexing content by thinking it had changed when they respidered. Probably not. I just use it for frivolity now. And ‘cos Powered by Textpattern. Copyright © 1066-2020 makes me grin.
EDIT: and if you want a laugh, you should see the ads down my Facebook feed. My “birthday” is in 1900 or something so I occasionally log in and just smile at my little fuck-you to the ridiculous algorithms that target me with keep-you-alive medication, walking aids, stairlifts, retirement and funeral plans for this decrepit 120-year-old geezer.
Last edited by Bloke (2020-11-25 23:12:55)
The smd plugin menagerie — for when you need one more gribble of power from Textpattern. Bleeding-edge code available on GitHub.
Hire Txp Builders – finely-crafted code, design and Txp
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Re: Gemini
Bloke wrote #327068:
I’m definitely looking at this as a possibility. I suspect serving a section of my site using
gemini://is as easy as throwing<txp:header>in the section’s template and using judicial tags inside.
Keep us posted here if you proceed with experiments. I was wondering, too, how much would be feasible from a txp install, if anything.
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I found this post The state of the web has lead me to only one conclusion: It is broken beyond repair. and the links therein useful and of interest.
…. texted postive
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bici wrote #327065:
why not just write occasionally on Wion.Com . That is already setup. With a very cool design and layout. Perhaps it can be made Gemini friendly, whatever that might mean.
I’ve recently started doing that with the new Notes section, mostly because of a sense of obligation than desire, but I’m already feeling hesitant to continue with it that way if I’m going to switch to gemini.
jakob wrote #327069:
Yes, what bici wrote! Maybe you can “echo” your blog writings to Gemini?
If what you mean is maintain two blogs of redundant content, Yipes! No. I’d think there would be more thought than that behind why and for who respective to protocol.
Otherwise, though, the readership on gemini is probably/currently very restricted.
That does make me think of family back in the states. They like to read anything I write, no matter what the hell it’s about. But the gemini barrier would be too big of one.
On the other hand, my other half is my worst/best critic that tends to make me not want to post anything. Maybe a gemini link in cognito is good for that situation. Like the man’s den, or garage, something.
A curious situation happened to me recently. My oldest has a friend at school who looked me up on the web to see what he could find, no doubt to rib my son about. He didn’t find much (all socmed accounts deleted) but he read my About page, and while it’s pretty harmless, he made a point of laughing at the fact I liked Cousteau as a kid. That this concerned my child and not me directly put me on guard, to say the least, and was a bit of an eye opener. So, gemini might be useful there, too.
The sad thing about always being worried about what to reveal in narrative particularly, and any good narrative writer (and publishing house) knows this, is that writing about real life is what readers love most; it’s what touches the soul and rings familiar. Where the humanity really is. A lot of good bloggers from back in the day are long gone off the web (or from this world) because of what it has become, a veritable land mine, too dangerous to reveal too much honesty.
The plus side may be you make more meaningful connections, but it will likely be less diverse.
I don’t write for connections (unless someone wants to hire me). That’s why I don’t use comments. Rants, raves, and questions via email are always accepted, though.
I like mastodon for some of the same reasons – firstly, that it’s not run by twitter and secondly that there’s room for diversity – but I have to say, in my circle of connections at least, there is a more alternative crowd but it’s also actually (in my perception) less diverse. There’s still more intersections of diverse interests and chance discoveries to be had on Twitter, you just have to wade through quite a bit of noise in-between.
This strays from the topic a bit, but I hear you and agree. That’s why I like it though. And for the few interactions I do have there, they are considerably more intelligent, polite, and sincere — most of the time. I wouldn’t dare talk about climate or politics on birdsite, for example, because it instantly blows up and derails by the expected knee-jerk, ill-mannered responses you get from fanatics with agendas and other louts of earth with nothing better to do.
If the fediverse became my comments, that would be fine, but it’s not an objective. I currently sometimes use it as a way to bounce ideas to write more about elsewhere. My fedi posts auto-descruct after 100 anyway. ;)
Only if you leave it to the youngsters. I’d say that’s all the more reason to have a blog at your age ;-) (by which I mean our). Besides, the youngfluencers of today just use video.
True about the craze for video, but again that’s really only on centralized exploitation platforms like YT and driven by capitalism.
Youth on fediverse are much more inclined for text blogs, like gemini.
Writing is still a valued craft.
No question there. The question is, really, why is one compelled to do it and how. That likely has many responses. Some roads less traveled than others.
You can, of course, leave out what might be too private and not publish what might be too copyright-worthy. But there’s a big space in-between.
Yep.
I always appreciate your thoughts, J, and the counter notions you often provide. It’s one of the reasons I value this forum. You’re helping me get to a decision.
Last edited by Destry (2020-11-28 11:24:57)
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Re: Gemini
Destry wrote #327088:
I always appreciate your thoughts, J, and the counter notions you often provide. It’s one of the reasons I value this forum. You’re helping me get to a decision.
And you know I’m like your mother, except with (perhaps) better eyesight!
And I meant, like Stef suggested, one source that you also publish to gemini. I’ll write you a note on the personal stuff offline.
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Bloke wrote #327072:
my little fuck-you to the ridiculous algorithms
Say you’re a woman, that’ll really throw them off the scent.
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