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Re: RFC1436 "+ item is a redundant server"

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I just wrote:
> '+' items add alternative locations to the previous (non-'+') item.
> 
> For example:
> > 0Fermenting Conkers	/conkers/fermenting	bigben.example	70
> > +Fermenting Conkers	/conkers/fermenting	bigben.example	7070
> > +Fermenting Conkers	fermenting-conkers	bigben.example	70
> > +Fermenting Conkers	/conkers/fermenting	greatpaul.example	70
> 
> Primary use is if host bigben.example is down, a connection may be
> attempted to alternate hosts (hence 'redundancy').
> 
> From tidbits I've read they may have been used for load-balancing too.
> 
> I'm unsure if having differing label has ever had an effect - the
> obvious is an alternate title - if someone else could shed light
> they'd have my gratitude.

Of course this is just in theory - in practice it's not used.
Modern processors don't need the load-balancing (for Gopher's size),
and I suspect confusion over it also led to it being neglected.
What clients do anything with these items? What do they do?
What servers are handing these out?

What happens if they occur before a non-'+' item?

If this has no use (and preferably dosen't break clients), I've had it
in my head to propose using this for menus reporting about themselves -
their locations, and their label. It seems a fairly natural progression
to me, though maybe this would be better as a new item type altogether.
('=' for "I am equal to"?)

Many clients show the label of the incoming item as a sort of title,
but have no way to obtain one for selectors manually entered. This
helps here.

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Thread

RFC1436  "+ item is a redundant server" Gopher Space <info@gopherspace.de> - 2022-03-03 06:40 -0800
  Re: RFC1436  "+ item is a redundant server" Olive S <oliversimmo@gmail.com> - 2024-01-12 11:53 +0000
    Re: RFC1436  "+ item is a redundant server" Olive S <oliversimmo@gmail.com> - 2024-01-12 12:15 +0000

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