gemini://jsreed5.org/log/2022/202211/20221103-barriers-to-gemini.gmi

A frequent criticism of Gemini, and a topic that arises on Gemini itself from time to time, is that the protocol gatekeeps. Specifically, it has a barrier to entry for viewing content, and an even higher one for posting content. Szczeżuja mentioned^ a recent discussion about the matter on Mastodon, and JeanG3nie gave a reply^^ yesterday that resonated with me.

In a way, talking about these issues on Gemini is a little self-defeating, and it's fresh meat for Gemini's detractors. "Gemini doesn't have a high barrier to entry", we say in our gemlogs, which the critics probably won't read because they don't want to install a client or use a proxy. The fact that they don't see the responses proves their point, right? That's all the convincing they need.

Of course this is an unfair standard to have. Many posts on Facebook require an account to be able to see; is making an account on Facebook an unreasonably-high barrier to entry? What about paying for a Netflix subscription, or subscribing to a mailing list?

The truth is that the existence of barriers to entry themselves are not a bad thing and of themselves. Barriers to entry are all around us. To receive a letter or package in the post, one must be in possession an address to which it can be delivered, which can be an issue for homeless people. Visiting any website on the Internet requires having access to an electronic device--often costing hundreds of dollars--and a working Internet connection. Even forgoing the cost of such things requires a visit to a library or an Internet café, which is also a barrier to entry. Taken to the extreme, newborn babies are unable to walk, speak in a discernible language, or clean themselves, but the answer is not for us to crawl, babble and soil ourselves.

Many such people will respond that these barriers are worth trying to overcome because of the value of the reward. This is a fundamentally different argument than whether barriers are a bad thing. No longer is the question about if the barrier to entry is itself a problem, but if the barrier is worth crossing. That is a subjective assessment that can't be answered one way for everyone. But more importantly, it's a shifting of the goalposts.

It's also been pointed out that the barriers to accessing Gemini are really not very high. Install one smartphone app or one graphical program, and you're all set. What people are often really complaining about is the lack of integration with existing apps and programs--in other words, a lack of convenience. That to me is not a barrier to entry, but merely a matter of preference.

Where the critics are often right, however, is the barrier to posting content on Gemini. To host content of one's own requires a good amount of technical knowledge. I've noticed, however, that the people who make this claim often compare Gemini posts to posts on Facebook or Twitter. This is an inaccurate comparison, since Facebook and Twitter are hosted platforms but Gemini as a whole is not. Hosting content on a personal Gemini capsule is more akin to hosting a personal website on the Worldwide Web--and I know from experience that that is a more complicated task than Gemini hosting. The real comparison is posting content on Facebook versus posting content on a service like Station or Flounder, both of which I think are very easy to use.

Of course, this is just one more rant on that space they find too hard to enter, so they'll dismiss it outright. What do I know.

Barriers to Gemini

2022-11-03