Thread: What ever happened to gopher?

Ages ago I remember going to some sites with URL's as such:

gopher://rest of the url goes here

But I have not seen any sites like that for ages now. Now I only see http and ftp. What ever happened to gopher? Are there any big ones still around? And what exactly WAS gopher?

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I actually just found a small explanation of old gopher sites which was quite helpful. I am still interested, however, to hear more and hear if there are any still around.

A system that pre-dates the World Wide Web for organizing and displaying files on Internet servers. A Gopher server presents its contents as a hierarchically structured list of files. With the ascendance of the Web, many gopher databases were converted to Web sites which can be more easily accessed via Web search engines.
Gopher was developed at the University of Minnesota and named after the school's mascot. Two systems, Veronica and Jughead, let you search global indices of resources stored in Gopher systems.

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I believe gopher became obsolete with the creation of a better HTTP and FTP, but there might be another reason.

never heard of it before, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gopher_protocol

that if gopher was used for the whole uncommercial internet that speeds would increase by 10000%

ROFL. You have to admire that fan's dedication.

Originally Posted by bennyandthejets

ROFL. You have to admire that fan's dedication.

Well, I mean, you would just be transferring plaintext...so I imagine transfers would go muh quicker. But still.