Gemini, Gophers, and Fingers. Oh My Alternative Internets Beyond HTTPS | Hacker News

A Hacker News thread revisited older and niche protocols like Finger, Gopher, and Gemini as alternatives to the modern HTTPS web.

Commenters argued that simpler, text-first protocols could reduce complexity, bandwidth use, and tracking.

The discussion tied web bloat and adtech to broader concerns about privacy, accessibility, and browser power.

Supporters framed these protocols as a cleaner internet for constrained networks and plain-text publishing, though not a full web replacement.