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Browsing the World Wide Web via E-Mail -- 1990's Style
A look back at "Doctor Bob's Guide to Offline Internet Access".
May 15, 2024
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Back in the 1990s… browsing “The Web” was a distinctly different experience for many people.

Some had a limited amount of time which they could be “On-Line”. Others had access to Internet E-Mail, often through a local dial-up BBS… but not the ability to use a graphical Web Browser. (Yes… “E-Mail” has a dash in it… that’s how it was in the beginning — as it is “Electronic Mail” — and that’s how it shall forever stay.)

Luckily, a solution presented itself:

“Doctor Bob’s Guide to Offline Internet Access”

First published in 1994 by “Doctor Bob” Rankin, the guide to offline Internet access focused on ways you could fetch (and interact with) various types of Internet servers entirely via E-Mail.

The sheer amount of different types of Internet servers that could be used via E-Mail was nothing short of amazing: FTP, Gopher, Jughead, Usenet, Finger, Whois, Nslookup, Traceroute, and (of course) the “World Wide Web” were all usable (to one degree or another).

“Doctor Bob” continued to update and release new versions of the guide until 1999, when he handed duties over to Gerald E. Boyd. The final version (to my knowledge) was released in 2002 and is available in full at faqs.org.

But… HOW?!

The way all of this worked was actually pretty ingenious in its simplicity.

There were servers — quite a lot of them — that you could email. In the body of your email you would include any of a number of different commands. The server would receive your email… and send a response back to you with the result of your command.

You could almost think of these “Web via E-Mail” servers as command line tools… that you use via E-Mail. Most of them even included a “Help” command that would email you an introduction and list of available commands.

One of the most popular (and earliest) servers, known as Agora, was developed by the World Wide Web Consortium — with the final release (0.8b) published in 1997.

Let’s say, for example, you want to read the contents of “Lunduke.com”. Easy peasy! You’d simply email the Agora server of your choice (Doctor Bob’s included several to get people started) with the following in the body of your email:

send http://lunduke.com

You would then get an email response (sometimes quickly… sometimes with a large lag time) with the text-mode version of that webpage.

Fun tidbits: The Agora Web Browser was written in Perl and ran on DEC Alpha servers. It was based (in very large part) on the second Web Browser ever created: the portable “Line Mode Browser” from 1990: a text-mode tool for fetching webpages from a command line.

Searching the Web via a search engine was possible via Agora, and typically was done by including a fully formed URL (with all of the search words) in the email. For example, the following would use the Lycos Search engine to search for “linux sucks”:

https://search.lycos.com/web/?q=linux+sucks

Not the most user-friendly method in the world, but it was functional.

Later, more advanced, “Web via E-Mail” servers would include some additional features to make this all a bit easier.

For example, “GetWeb” and “WWW4MAIL” (two of the most popular, full featured servers) would allow you to perform the same search (for "linux sucks") by sending the following email:

SEARCH LYCOS linux sucks

See? Much nicer.

The Impact of Doctor Bob’s Guide

Many modern Internet users may have never even been aware of Doctor Bob’s Guide to Offline Internet Access”… just the same, its impact was far reaching.

People, across the world, utilized the techniques in the guide to gain some form of “Web Access” in areas with little availability of Internet Access. In fact, its usage was so widespread that various versions of the guide were translated to 32 different languages.

All The Servers are Gone

To my knowledge, no such “WWW via E-Mail” servers (Agora, GetWeb, or WWW4MAIL) are still in operation. In fact, even finding the source code for some of these servers has proven challenging.

There have been a few attempts at writing a new such server over the years — including “newAgora” written in Python. However, none seem to have any longevity to them (newAgora was last updated 11 years ago).

This isn’t terribly surprising, as the “WWW” has become increasingly difficult to use via text-mode browsers over the last 20 years. Add on top of this the continually shifting SSL requirements of most servers… and it has simply become too complex of a task.  Especially considering the lack of interest  in supporting such functionality.

Just the same, it’s sad when these sort of systems are no longer functional. A whole new generation of people will never have the opportunity to experience what it was like to “browse the web” entirely via E-Mail.

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Looking for the Podcast RSS feed or other links?
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Be sure to subscribe here at Lunduke.Locals.com to get all shows & articles (including interviews with other amazing nerds).

"Andreas Kling creator of Serenity OS & Ladybird Web Browser" - Lunduke’s Big Tech Show - September 13th, 2023 - Ep 044

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For February: 50% off Subscriptions, 50% off DRM-Free Downloads, Lifetime Subscriptions available

2025 is off to an amazing start for The Lunduke Journal.

The number of people getting their Big-Tech-Free Tech News from The Lunduke Journal is shooting through the roof. Subscriptions (of every kind) are soaring.

And The Lunduke Journal is now available on a wide variety of platforms — with our core community area now consolidating on our own, self-hosted forum (which is exclusively available to subscribers).

With the tidal wave of new people — many of you wanting access to the new, exclusive Forum — I want to make it as easy as possible for everyone to become a part of what we are doing. Time to do something a bit crazy. Massive discounts on subscriptions (I mean… huge). For the entire month of February.

Yup. The whole gosh darned month.

If it’s February, the discounts below are all available. Choose whatever works best for you. Then feel awesome about supporting truly independent Tech Journalism.

50% Off Yearly Subscription:

50% off a Yearly subscription to The Lunduke Journal via both Locals and Substack. (This includes full access to the community Forum.)

That’s $2.25 per month. Pocket change.

50% Off DRM-Free, MP4 Downloads:

Want to be able to download every show The Lunduke Journal releases (and watch them on whatever device you like)? Yeah. You can do that. For 50% off.

Note: This DRM-Free download option does not include access to the Forum. This option is strictly for downloading the episodes.

The Famous Lifetime Subscription:

The "World Famous Lunduke Journal Lifetime Subscription" is exactly what it sounds like. Pay once and get full access to The Lunduke Journal. For life. A great way to support Big-Tech-Free Journalism.

(This includes full access to the community Forum.)

New Lifetime Subscriptions are available, for $200, from now through February 28th.

The Lifetime Subscription can be obtain via Locals, Substack, or using Bitcoin. All three options work great and are super easy.

How to get a Lifetime Subscription via Locals:

  1. Go to Lunduke.Locals.com/support.

  2. Select "Give Once".

  3. Enter "200" into the amount field.

  4. After checking out, Lunduke will toss you an email once your account is set to full lifetime status. (This usually happens within a few hours.)

How to get a Lifetime Subscription via Substack:

  1. Go to Lunduke.Substack.com/subscribe.

  2. Select the “Lifetime Subscription” option.

  3. After checking out, Lunduke will toss you an email once your account is set to full lifetime status. (This usually happens within a few hours.)

If you would also like full, Lifetime access to Lunduke.Locals.com (which is included):

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How to get a Lifetime Subscription with Bitcoin:

And, finally, you can obtain a Lifetime Subscription via Bitcoin. Save a few bucks with this option, as Bitcoin processing has fewer fees associated with it.

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  • Email "bryan at lunduke.com" with the following information: What time you made the transaction, how much was sent (in Bitcoin), and the email address you use (or plan to use) on Locals.com.

The Lunduke Journal would not be possible without your support. Every subscriber, of every type, makes a massive difference in bringing Big-Tech-Free Tech Journalism to the world.

Thank you.

-Lunduke

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February 09, 2025
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The Great Tech Demographic Survey of 2025

There are a lot of questions we don't have good answers for.

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The Great Tech Industry Demographic Survey of 2025

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Seriously.

  • All answers are 100% anonymous (no account is needed), no email address is collected.
  • All questions are optional (only answer the ones you feel comfortable with).
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  • All of the (anonymous) results will be published.

The 2024 edition of this survey (last year) was taken by over 7,200 people across the entire IT industry -- an absolutely massive sample size (larger than most US Presidential Election polls).  For this new 2025 survey... we're aiming even higher.

Are you a computer nerd?  Do you work in the IT industry?

Set aside a few minutes and take the 2025 survey.

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Fund Indie Tech Journalism. Lifetime Subs & Discounts available for 48 hours.

February is upon us! And — would you look at that — thanks to all of you, The Lunduke Journal is already fully funded through the end of February!

That means: We can continue to have zero sponsors, zero advertising and, even more importantly, zero influence from Big Tech.

Now. How amazing would it be if The Lunduke Journal could reach our funding goals through the end of March… almost two months ahead of time? Pretty freaking amazing. And absolutely doable.

Let’s do it.

Through Tuesday (February 4th), we’ve got a handful of discounts on Lunduke Journal subscriptions. Take a look. A huge thank you to everyone who has already subscribed — you make this all possible.

Every penny goes towards keeping truly independent journalism alive.

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For the next 2 days (through Tuesday, February 4th), in addition to regular subscriptions, you can grab two limited discounts:

  1. Discounted Lifetime Subscriptions (scroll down for details)

  2. DRM-Free, MP4 Downloads for 2024 & 2025 (combined) for 55% off.

There many ways to support The Lunduke Journal. Choose the option that makes you smile. It’s all listed below.

Where to grab a Monthly or Yearly Subscription:

These are regular price. But still awesome.

Lifetime Subscription Details:

  • Pay once, full subscription for life (on Locals, Substack, or both).

  • Available only until Tuesday, February 4th. Then the Lifetime Subscription option goes “back in the vault”.

  • Can be purchased via Locals, Substack, or with Bitcoin. Chose whichever works for you. Scroll down for steps.

Where to buy a DRM-Free, MP4 video yearly download pass:

Want to be able to download every show The Lunduke Journal releases (and watch them on whatever device you like)? Yeah. You can do that.

The Famous Lifetime Subscription via Locals:

The "World Famous Lunduke Journal Lifetime Subscription" is exactly what it sounds like. Pay once and get full access to The Lunduke Journal (with all the perks of subscription on Locals). For life.

New Lifetime Subscriptions are available, for $200, from now through February 4th. Then this option goes "back into the vault".

Here's how to grab one of these coveted bad boys for yourself:

  1. Go to Lunduke.Locals.com/support.

  2. Select "Give Once".

  3. Enter "200" into the amount field.

  4. After checking out, Lunduke will toss you an email once your account is set to full lifetime status. (This usually happens within a few hours.)

The Famous Lifetime Subscription via Substack:

You can also snag a Lifetime Subscription via Substack:

  1. Go to Lunduke.Substack.com/subscribe.

  2. Select the “Lifetime Subscription” option.

  3. After checking out, Lunduke will toss you an email once your account is set to full lifetime status. (This usually happens within a few hours.)

If you would like full, Lifetime access to Lunduke.Locals.com (which is included):

  1. Make a free account on Lunduke.Locals.com.

  2. Email “bryan at lunduke.com” with the email address you use on both Substack and Locals (can be different email addresses).

  3. Lunduke will toss you an email once your account is set to full lifetime status on Locals.

The Famous Lifetime Subscription (with Bitcoin discount):

And, finally, you can obtain a Lifetime Subscription via Bitcoin. Save a few bucks with this option, as Bitcoin processing has fewer fees associated with it.

  • Make sure you have a Lunduke.Locals.com account (a free account works just fine).

  • Send $190 worth of Bitcoin (or more) to the following address:

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  • Email "bryan at lunduke.com" with the following information: What time you made the transaction, how much was sent (in Bitcoin), and the email address you use (or plan to use) on Locals.com.

Once again, thank you. The Lunduke Journal would not be possible without your support.

You rule. Seriously.

-Lunduke

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