GopherMail

If one does not have the possibility to access the Internet interactively, there is also the possibility to use the Gopher service with the help of electronic mail.

Interactive access is made possible by the GopherMail program, written in 1992 by Fred Bremmer, which is installed on the Gopher gopher@calvin.edu. One simply starts with an e-mail to gopher@calvin.edu, with no particular subject or content, and GopherMail responds with the main Gopher menu.

With a Reply, which contains the original message (i.e. the Gopher menu), one now replies to the Gopher, marking the desired menu at the beginning of the line with an "X" (or "x"). This process is repeated until one has found the desired information or file. If a selected menu itemis a file, it will be delivered by mail. Binary files are automatically sent uuencoded. On an email to gopher@calvin.edu with "help" as subject one receives a short guidance for the use of GopherMail.