An invitation to Geminispace
The Gemini Protocol
Gemini, not Google Gemini (nor the crypto exchange platform), is another way to see a different, and very niche, part of the internet. It's not meant to replace the internet, but it does offer a way to interact with other people without some of the annoying things you might be tired of, such as ads, cookies, popups, and paywalls.
The Geminispace
Within the Geminispace you'll find websites, or more appropriately called capsules, constructed in a very plain text way. These sites are constructed by people to share with you things they know, feel, and experience. There is no drive to sell you anything, nor a need to obtain the "creative influencer badge." In fact, in a lot of capsules there is no up-vote, down-vote, or comment section --and the only way the author of a post may know anyone has read their stuff is, if they provided an email, and you took the time to write to them.
Exploring Geminispace
If you are curious about exploring this part of the internet, be prepared to take your time and do some reading. As mentioned before, capsules are very plain text heavy, which means there will not be a lot of white space, or even picture graphics. Content is king here, and substance is more important than eye candy. There are, however, creative people out there that will find ways to make their capsule less tiring on the eyes.
It's not all blogs
I feel the need to say that this Geminispace isn't all about blogs. There are community sites, similar to reddit (for one), that encourages collaboration. Now comments and thumbs-up can be given here, however, these things don't feed into an algorithm to make the posts more popular. Even if someone's contribution received more than a million thumbs-up, or thousands of comments, which is incredibly unlikely, their post will get buried away under new posts made in the following days. It's all chronological, and the point is not to become viral, but rather to share information.
There are many other sites which encourage some short fiction writing, some with games, and some which provide news. I haven't adequately explored all that Geminispace has to offer, but I'm pleasantly surprised when I find something new. As this is a leisure activity for me, and my personal time is always divided up by responsibilities, other interests, and sleep, there's only so much I can explore. So, I take it slowly, I return to the sites that provide me some value, and I try to find something new everyday.
One final thought
I want to finish this with one more final thought. If you find yourself enjoying this space, I encourage you not to become disheartened from some capsules being apparently abandoned. Some people come and go and never return. Some do come back every few weeks with something new. The capsules there may still contain some gems of information. And who knows, an email showing some appreciation with what's been shared might encourage that capsule to be manned again --then maybe not. Either way it's better to have people here when they have something to share --not because they feel they have to, but because they want to. I feel in order for Geminispace to maintain its appeal, we need to keep something in mind: we certainly can, and should, invite people here. It should, however, never become a place to replace the internet. It doesn't have to become mainstream.Resources
Gemini Frequently asked Questions
You don't need to set up a capsule, or have a lot of technical know-how to explore what's out there. Just skim to the "Install a Client" section (because you need something other than an internet browser to view the sites in the Geminispace).
LaGrange is an awesome client, which doesn't need to be run in the terminal.
The main Gemini Protocol Website
My Gemini capsule
My Gemini home through the Smolnet PortalIf you have a Gemini browser, the URL is gemini://gemini.ctrl-c.club/~jules