gopherhole/seliph/things.txt

Twenty things you can do to help grow the Second Realm / Small Internet
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1. Start using aliases and pseudonyms, and get comfortable using them in both online and real-life situations.

2. Leave internet places you don't feel comfortable participating in anymore. Invest time making places you love better. It's better to be a creator- an active participant- rather than just another user.

3. Start using a VPN- even a free tier of a reputable service like Proton is better than naked traffic. It'll protect you from both traffic snoopers on your local network and from errant pubnixes with a penchant for watching their logs closely.

4. Play around with Tails (https://tails.boum.org). The restraints of having to start with a blank slate every boot, even with the persistence feature enabled, can bring a new perspective as to where you could cut bloat out of your life.

5. Think about switching to using more terminal-based programs, as they are often simpler and less addictive/harmful than bloated graphical programs.

6. Try making your own tools. Common languages for beginners are Bash and Python. Share said tools with others so that they may learn, and license them under the GPLv3 so they remain free for all.

7. Disregard internet celebrities and petty drama among them. But learn to differenciate between a cry for attention and a genuine cry for help.

8. Learn how to use basic cryptography. Post your public PGP/GPG key(s) on your gopherhole, and collect those of your friends. The more people encrypting their messages, the safer we all become.

9. Respect secrets. Secrets are good most of the time. Detox yourself from the "everything should be in the open" propaganda. Let the person and the persona be different if need be.

10. Fix your mistakes and work to ensure they don't happen again. Correct misunderstandings, but also learn how to disagree with kindness.

11. That being said, don't waste your time trying to convince someone who's clearly acting in bad faith.

12. If a user is struggling, don't dump information on them; offer them help, and if they take it, help them as much as they need.

13. Day-to-day politics and similar trite have little, if any, place here. We here in the Second Realm/Small Internet deal in much bigger ideas from much smaller people. An honest b/phlog from a friend is worth so much more than a thousand Trump fiascos.

14. Watch over your friends and fellow gophermates. Notice when they are having a bad day, and show them some kindness and concern. If you can, give them a little help, or carry some of their burden. We all have bad times, and even a few words of care can be someone's light to help them make it through.

15. Don't try to implement features from the First Realm/Large Internet that we fled from when we came here. That means no JavaScript, no analytics scripts, no trackers (persistent or not). Gopher is for content- OUR content, not a place for more corporatist exploitation.

16. Don't spend all day on your computer. Take breaks to rest your eyes. Read a book, or go outside, or do some other non-electronc hobby. Something to refresh your mind and keep your body intact.

17. If you can run your own server, do so! Decentralization means a healthier gophersphere for everyone.

18. If you can partition some space on your server for other people to use, do so! Not everyone has the resources, financial or otherwise, to host their own server, and if you do it right, you'll build an invaluable community of like-minded people.

19. Remember that there's a person behind the screen; there's a person behind the persona.

20. And above all: make something!

(partially adapted from "Fifty things to do NOW" by Anarplex at http://anarplexqtbch57j.onion/hosted/files/fiftythings.html )