The Small Web

Everything on DeadKeys is plain text: character sheets, wiki pages, configuration. Just documents. You can open them in any text editor and keep your own copies, with no special software needed.

If you like the command line, you can read these files with cat, search them with grep, compare versions with diff, and back them up by copying a folder.

We chose plain text so your data stays yours, whatever happens to DeadKeys. There are no tracking cookies here (the only cookie is a security token that protects forms), no analytics, and no JavaScript reporting what you do.

Privacy on DeadKeys

The IRC server does not log conversations. There are no server-side records of what you say or who you talk to.

All IRC connections use TLS encryption on port 6697. TLS encrypts everything between your chat app and the server, and unencrypted connections are not accepted.

Our Text Files

• Character sheets use TOML, a text format with named sections and values. You can edit it in any text editor and compare versions to see what changed.
• Wiki pages use Markdown: plain text with simple marks for headings, links, and lists. Pages are stored directly as files, with no database behind them.
• Configuration uses YAML and TOML, text formats for storing settings.

You can download your character sheet and open it in Notepad, VS Code, or vim. Keep a copy, or compare two versions to see what changed between sessions. The format will outlive whatever software we happen to be running.

A character sheet looks like this:

[identity]
name = "Walks-the-Storm"
player = "Jane"

[attributes.physical]
strength = 3
dexterity = 4
stamina = 3

Gemini & Gopher

You can also browse DeadKeys over Gemini and Gopher. These are protocols (ways for a browser to ask for pages and receive them) that offer a quieter, simpler alternative to the web.

Gemini sits between Gopher and the web in complexity. It uses TLS encryption and serves simply formatted text pages, with no cookies, tracking headers, JavaScript, or stylesheets. The protocol is deliberately hard to extend: it was designed to stay small rather than keep growing features.

"Gemini isn't about innovation or disruption, it's about providing some respite for those who feel the internet has been disrupted enough already."

-- Project Gemini

Gopher is one of the oldest internet protocols, created at the University of Minnesota in 1991, before the web took over. It organizes content into menus of plain text, with no decoration and no layout. A small community keeps it alive because the simplicity is the point.

DeadKeys is available at:

• gemini://deadkeys.net
• gopher://deadkeys.net

To open these addresses, we recommend Lagrange, a friendly browser for both Gemini and Gopher. It runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android.

Further Reading

• Project Gemini: the Gemini protocol homepage
• Gemini FAQ: more about Gemini and why it's designed this way
• Lagrange: a browser for Gemini and Gopher
• Libera Chat: a community-run IRC network with similar values