💾 Archived View for warmedal.se › ~bjorn › posts › gemini-and-post.gmi captured on 2023-01-29 at 16:45:14. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
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There is no POST method in gemini. I am ambivalent about this, and can't seem to get myself straight. Maybe you can help me out?
You want to write a gemlog? Well, get a hosting space. All you need is ssh or sftp, and a familiarity with the terminal wouldn't hurt. That's a *big* hurdle to climb for those who aren't technically savvy. The need to find and install a gemini browser is a hurdle in itself still.
This isn't *only* a bad thing, of course, but there are definitely people out there with interesting experiences that are not technically versed enough to join us here.
Let's say we *would* include a POST method, in order to make geminispace more accessible to none-technical users. Then we'd need forms, really, so that they know what to POST. And form validation, because otherwise they could make mistakes. And... Well, you get the point. That way be dragons, my friend. Simplicity goes out the window.
Something like a POST method doesn't really fit in gemini. It would have to be shoe-horned in, and it would complicate a protocol which is so far very easy to understand and implement. In that way the inclusion of a POST risks making the protocol exclusionary in another way: higher complexity means less browsers and servers, and harder to get into the technical side of things. This would most decidedly be very much against the stated goals of the protocol.
There are other protocols more suitable to POSTing content. Already titan and dioscuro are being worked on. But if I want to make a gemini browser and effectively have to implement a handful of "complementary" protocols too, then I just end up in web-like complexity again.
Standards are Good, Everyone Should Have One
The above point is made all the worse if several de facto standards appear to handle the issue.
It'd be nice if there was a way to have gemlog portals, or long-form message boards, or wikis, in geminispace. In a way that all browsers can interact with.
I guess I'd like to know what You think about this. Is it a real or just perceived problem? How do You handle it on your sites? Which solutions have you seen, and what do you think of them? How would You build a forum, gemlog portal, wiki, or survey site in geminispace?
-- CC0 ew0k, 2020-11-04