Gopher (protocol)
Because of concern over possible licensing fees, and the relative flexibility of the World Wide Web, the protocol did not get much use. There are less than 200 gopher servers still actively maintained. Many of the remaining gopher servers are run by individuals. Most of them are rarely updated except for the ones run by enthusiasts of the protocol. A handful of new servers are set up every year by hobbyists - over 50 have been set up and added to Floodgap's list since 1999. Today Gopher exists as an almost forgotten corner of the Internet. - one can publish email addresses in plaintext without having to worry about spam, and publish large amounts of data without the risk of the server's bandwidth becoming saturated by overuse.