From: Cameron Kaiser <spectre@floodgap.com>
Message-Id: <200702210101.l1L11CmE008824@floodgap.com>
Subject: [gopher] Re: ascii art
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To: gopher@complete.org
Date: Tue, 20 Feb 2007 17:01:12 -0800 (PST)
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> Interestingly, the Bucktooth Gopher Server (which is what Floodgap uses)
> accepts some wildcard symbols (such as the "#" symbol) and will, for
> example, return the root directory contents if you type:
>   gopher://gopher.floodgap.com/#

I did not evaluate the remainder of your message, but this analysis is not
correct. What you're observing is a side effect of itemtype interpretation in
URLs, and is not server specific (it also works with JumpJet). The # is not
actually transmitted to the server; it is interpreted as the item type to a
null request, which most browsers will interpret as an unknown item type and
attempt to display as text. To prove that # is not salient to Bucktooth,

% nc gopher.floodgap.com 70
#
0'/#' doesn't exist!            error.host      1
.

-- 
--------------------------------- personal: http://www.armory.com/~spectre/ ---
  Cameron Kaiser * Floodgap Systems * www.floodgap.com * ckaiser@floodgap.com
-- TRUE HEADLINE: Morning-After Pill Decision Delayed -------------------------