Gemini
I have written a few blogpost style articles on my website here but it always felt off.
At the same time, I have started to publish on gemini. I will continue to publish my poetry on both, my gemini capsule and here, but my non poetic texts are confined to gemini for now.
What is this Gemini thing?
Gemini is a document transfer protocol (as is http, the protocol your browser uses to show you this website) and a markup language devoid of all but the most basic features. No fancy styling, no inline images, no text formatting. It is a space segregated off the regular web, where a small amount of weirdos writes, reads and converses.
But why?
If you read my previous thoughts about abstraction and tools, you know how I like the weird, diy and less abstracted, less decorated and fancy things. If the term wouldn’t be so burned, I’d call it minimalism(derogatory).
The web is just so full of slop. Of meaningless content, hosted on coorperate platforms. And while there are still people maintaining their own personal websites, they are few and far inbetween. So a space that is too void of features to be exploited feels more intimate.
There’s not as much content published, but the gemlogging (the geminispace term for blogging) community is alive and kicking. While I did not have a single stranger contacting me over my website - and while I haven’t contacted anyone over their website - in many years, I sometimes get emails with comments on what I publish there. As I do email other authors there to comment on their work, have a chat, etc.
It is a quiet place.
And what now?
For now, I’ll keep writing on gemini. If you wanna read my less poetic texts, you’ll have to use a gemini browser I guess. And if not, nothing changes for you. I’ll keep publishing poetry here.
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