wf

Finger > social media

Really, think about it.

Finger is an ancient web protocol first defined and implemented in the RFC 742 in 1977. Its functionality has not changed much since then aside from a few shiny features, but this is besides the point. Finger is now mostly a hobbyist thing, though it isn't deprecated, and there are a few large hosts that have implemented it (plan.cat is one). I love finger because it's simple and stupid, it operates in plaintext without any fluff, and has a very simple spec.

The most attractive (and probably the only) feature of the finger protocol is the 'plan', which is a plaintext file stored in the home directory of the user and can contain text of any kind. It can be looked at as a sort of status, similar to how social media platforms have user statuses. In my opinion, finger is single-handedly better than most modern-day social media platforms because it's decentralized and simple. You have a piece of text that you can put on your profile, and that's about enough. Plaintext is a wonderful format, and finger is a wonderful protocol.