After observing a little and reading sites by people who access the Gemini protocol and then abandon it (all reasons are entirely valid), I pose an open question: Does the Gemini protocol carry over the flaws of “wanting everything and wanting it now” from “traditional” browsing (http), or is it just a matter of accessing Gemini without preconceived notions?

2 months ago · 👍 travisshears

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@aeolus It's a somewhat “basic” example, but it can help. A person who has never navigated the protocol wants to search for something that isn't on Google. I feel lost and I'm leaving. The “error” (this being somewhat relative) comes from the fact that in the HTTP protocol, if you want something, you get it, whereas in Gemini, and correct me if I'm wrong, if you want something, you have to move a little more (not much, really). As half_elf_monk says, it's not a technological failure, but rather a failure to learn how to use the technology 🙂 · 2 months ago

Maybe it's not as easy as I thought to self-host a capsule, since I haven't done it yet. *shrug* I guess I'm intruigued by the model that, say, Antenna or DSN or capcom or discogem or LEO etc etc etc have set up. · 2 months ago

@aeolus - That resonates with me. I agree. It's one of the reasons I'd love to be able to self-host a capsule: it is, in a sense, liberty and self-government. That said, I do think that the current slate of aggregators I've found on gemini are trying to be distinct from the publisher/platform debate, right? Submit your own self-published URL, and the platform will promote it. The hypothetical Censorious Middleman could choose to deny promotion, but the protocol allows for relatively easier publishing. · 2 months ago

@half_elf_monk FWIW, I am very new and only interested in writing and reading non-tech content. I made the decision to not bother getting involved in any aggregators the moment I read that anyone was excluded from one for reasons other than practical/legal CYA stuff. The amount of investment it takes to produce meaningful content here is just way, way too big to allow middlemen to become central enough to cut you out of the loop. I would've hoped Gemini would've learned from the web's mistake of allowing entities to straddle the line between publisher and platform. · 2 months ago

That said, I suspect 'discoverability' is something that could be improved-upon. There are soem really good aggregators out there, but they seem to run into a bit of an xkcd#927 issue. I wonder if browser authors/maintainers could be persuaded to include a default 'start page' in their packages that pointed new users to places to go to find humanly-interesting conversations. · 2 months ago

If I understand your question rightly, I think the answer is that "wanting everything and wanting it now" is a human flaw, not a flaw in the protocol. The "access then abanadon" trend probably has to do with the lack of non-techie content available on the protocol, and the shifting habits that come with an intentionally minimalist web. Addiction to the attention economy is really hard to break. I don't think that's really a technical issue. · 2 months ago

It would help if you explained what you thought those flaws were. · 2 months ago