Before the web (which I started using with Mosaic), I used Gopher through an individual gopher program, as well as FTP sites and Usenet.
I never actually used Gopher (or Archie), but I was very keen on using the wider internet as soon as my work would give us a chance, so I prepared. Somehow I got hold of The Big Dummy Guide to the Internet -- I had a printout in a binder, so maybe I got it off a newsgroup? Or had read about an FTP site somewhere and got it from there? The memory, she is gone, but I remember the book, and its careful explanations of Archie and Gopher and FTP and how that was how you navigated the Internet. It included important sites (and FTP sites came with many pre-loaded, remember that?)
(Ahhh I love the web: Big Dummy Guide to the Internet online -- there are actually older versions as well, but this is the 1993, 1994 version I got my hands on, with IRC and Telnet and Usenet and Gopher and Archie and FTP and MUDS and important addresses and wow. It was amazing.)
I used that printout for years; most of the Archie and Gopher stuff was sliding away, but I would poke around FTP sites it recommended, and it taught me to telnet, and had lists of IRC commands for when I went on IRC. <3
I seem to remember that some of the early collections of fanfiction available via FTP would put a document at the beginning of the directory with a list of what all the title abbreviations in the directory stood for.
Makes sense! My memories of FTP archives are hazy, I admit; I was mostly reading off lists, and web archives were already appearing by the time I got online if I wanted stories I hadn't stored myself. (But really, I treated my email then like I do my browser now; I expected everything I needed to be available that way, because it pretty much was.)
(Just look at the lengths of some of my journal comments! Though only in journals where I feel they'd be welcome, usually my personal friends.)
Dude, your comments are always so incredibly welcome here, even if I don't have time to get to answer them right away. They're like this visceral reminder that, oh yeah, I really love the fannish style of engagement that slows down a bit to really think about things, and talk them through, rather than just churning across the surface of everything as fast as possible. ♥
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I never actually used Gopher (or Archie), but I was very keen on using the wider internet as soon as my work would give us a chance, so I prepared. Somehow I got hold of The Big Dummy Guide to the Internet -- I had a printout in a binder, so maybe I got it off a newsgroup? Or had read about an FTP site somewhere and got it from there? The memory, she is gone, but I remember the book, and its careful explanations of Archie and Gopher and FTP and how that was how you navigated the Internet. It included important sites (and FTP sites came with many pre-loaded, remember that?)
(Ahhh I love the web: Big Dummy Guide to the Internet online -- there are actually older versions as well, but this is the 1993, 1994 version I got my hands on, with IRC and Telnet and Usenet and Gopher and Archie and FTP and MUDS and important addresses and wow. It was amazing.)
I used that printout for years; most of the Archie and Gopher stuff was sliding away, but I would poke around FTP sites it recommended, and it taught me to telnet, and had lists of IRC commands for when I went on IRC. <3
I seem to remember that some of the early collections of fanfiction available via FTP would put a document at the beginning of the directory with a list of what all the title abbreviations in the directory stood for.
Makes sense! My memories of FTP archives are hazy, I admit; I was mostly reading off lists, and web archives were already appearing by the time I got online if I wanted stories I hadn't stored myself. (But really, I treated my email then like I do my browser now; I expected everything I needed to be available that way, because it pretty much was.)
(Just look at the lengths of some of my journal comments! Though only in journals where I feel they'd be welcome, usually my personal friends.)
Dude, your comments are always so incredibly welcome here, even if I don't have time to get to answer them right away. They're like this visceral reminder that, oh yeah, I really love the fannish style of engagement that slows down a bit to really think about things, and talk them through, rather than just churning across the surface of everything as fast as possible. ♥