What is the Torus?

Do you remember the WebRing? In the mid-90s, searching for web content was often a bit of a chore and was highlydriven motivatedprimarily by shared links.links Thefrom .edufriends or groups, or by long lists of hyperlinks on home pages. Then we got webrings.

A webring was beautifully simple: a circle of websites, linked together by moderators or website owners who shared a common passion. You'd land on a page about vintage synthesisers or Novell NetWare drivers, and otherat academicthe domainsbottom, ruledyou'd ourfind earlya internetsmall reading.navigation Inbar. fact,Next. soPrevious. importantRandom. Click, and you'd tumble into another corner of someone else's obsession.

There was no ranking. No optimisation. No engagement metrics. Just people who cared about a subject, they reached out to the powerowners of .eduthose thatwebsites evenand the early version of Google gave significant weightagreed to .edu resources. Search engine optimisation (SEO) in the late 90s, page 1, step 1: "Infiltrate a .edu domain and link to youreach website".other.

Webrings were roads of discovery powered by trust. If you loved this subject or web site, then you might love the next one too. It could be hit-and-miss, but you'd spend an evening clicking through a ring of sites about electronic music or X-windows, each one handmade in notepad, and each one someone's labour of love.

So what is the nekotopia torus? As an extension of the 'ring', we aim to bring passionate people together again. The modern Internet is hostile to clear-text websites or telnet services. We built the torus to supply a framework for these legacy, insecure platforms.