Ask HN: Are there alternate internets or the possibility of one?

2 pointsZguideZ2 comments

I'm aware of the idea of the Chinese, Indian, European, and U.S. internet models and also of the dark web, but are there other internets that regular people can access? Are there still 'internets' like usenet, Gopher, and other non-commodified information sharing portals?

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In the beginning, there were separate internets. By Postel's law, it is hard to stop them converging into one, though [1]

Your last question, though is more about "Are there alternate networked information systems than WWW"? Gopher is still active [2]. Gemini is a proposed modern incarnation of Gopher [3]. There is also Alfi [4]. There seem to be run by hobyists, though.

If there are any other comparable platforms, I'd like to know too.

[1] https://apenwarr.ca/log/20200708

[2] https://cheapskatesguide.org/articles/gopherspace.html

[3] https://toffelblog.xyz/blog/gemini-overview/

[4] https://github.com/jezze/alfi

Cool. Thank you. I ran into Gopher a long time ago and thought maybe it was gone or dormant. I appreciate your clarification on my ask.

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