auto-following on account creation is a mistake. especially for nostr clients. takes a bunch of agency away and puts the person in a defensive position of “why am i following this account?”

trending, search, and topics are far better leads to a follow.


Or universal timing


The joy of discovery has been taken from us! Time to get it back!


Onward 🫡


Literally happened everytime I onboarded someone with Primal. Lists solve this issue.


Yes.


Primal asks you what topics you’re interested in and auto-follows people.

Instead, it could just display lists related to those topics — so it doesn’t auto-follow anyone — but the feed won’t empty thanks to the lists.


smk


the work of discovery is worth the effort


Who does auto follow in nostr ?


I had to unfollow 100 accounts—insane


Why is he up so early? He's in California

nostr:nevent1qqswsryg0j2eh89e5uy5ruwvpydwaewhd30tspgsxaww39j6yzrlm6qpzemhxue69uhk2er9dchxummnw3ezumrpdejz7q3qsg6plzptd64u62a878hep2kev88swjh3tw00gjsfl8f237lmu63qxpqqqqqqznclks9


or random


Yeah I pretty much feel like that with primal, and seems like they are having a rethink about it (separate to my feedback lol).

I think bluesky feeds work amazingly well, I have to hand that to them. And I wish feeds were as smooth and useful on nostr. Soon, hopefully.

Topic feeds would be ideal at onboarding.


Na. Sturgeon's law—ninety percent of everything is crap. I would be super annoyed if my on boarding experience was following a bunch of randos, most of which suck.

Plus, users can follow random accounts on their own if they want to.


Is bluesky a different app?


Depends on the client you created your account with. I only started recently and Primal had you choose interests, then put a bunch of accounts in front of you and let you follow who you wanted then sent you on your way.


Different app, different protocol, attracts a somewhat different crowd. Is my neutral description lol.


I think Nos Social put a few follows in place but I can’t remember their user flow. Played with a couple others. Each is different.


wait so not a nostr protocol?


No


Agreed. Some guidance based on my interests is fine, but let me manually fallow whom I’m shown as I select.


Fallow? lol


⚡ LIVE FREE ⚡


totally agree


agreed!


it is just a hack, so i disagree unless we actually achieve functioning algo feeds.
- trending doesn’t work. until we have functions algo feeds ^ trending is just bitcoin and ‘how good is nostr’ circlejerk threads, which imo doesn’t lead to follows for new users
- search is too much work if you assume a new user is initially indifferent to nostr
- topics (hashtags?) aren’t active, and id argue never will be if most of nostr is twitter clones, as that’s a remnant of old twitter.


harsh analysis 😔


absolutely agree for the topic feeds 🧡


So agree


Agreed, topics and trends, search
https://image.nostr.build/e8ad30b1b7bb78d0852b1e912540770ce7a572414849044b22f4e044cad1c3d9.jpg
https://image.nostr.build/e251ef45ebfe8463ad052fa1cd8dd8eac55a87c97ed7f9eea5f9ef9e3603ea64.jpg


Nice


“Why am I following all these people?”

First question I got from someone who I recently got to finally come check out Nostr. They were some what disgruntled and confused.


:peepoClap:


There’s not enough non-crypto accounts here tbh. I think there needs to be a far more diverse amount of users before considering things like this.


Onward 🫡


yeah this was jarring and i unfollowed everyone immediately

nostr:note1aqxgsly4nwwtnfcfg8cuczg6amjawmz7hqz3qd6uazt95gy8lh5qjutpez


auto-following on account creation is a mistake. especially for nostr clients. takes a bunch of agency away and puts the person in a defensive position of “why am i following this account?”

trending, search, and topics are far better leads to a follow.


It makes it too much of a feudalistic club and yeah, feels unauthentic. I think suggestions are great but the current setup isnt it


Primal but you need to pick topics first. Nos has 2 auto-follow accounts: the Nos account and one other. The Nos account so people know there is an update they can install!


auto-ANYTHING is always a mistake (unless it’s part of a conscious RPA project)


(Succinct reply) Perhaps a list of “suggested” or “recommended” accounts to follow based on interests rather than auto follow. And somehow be able to return to the recommended list at some point.

(Detailed reply) With onboarding of a new user, I think there has to be some type of list of accounts. Auto-follow might not be the best option. For me, I didn’t mind. I was able to view accounts and read posts. If I liked what I saw, I would continue to follow. If not, I unfollowed. Most of the accounts that were recommended to me, I still follow. I’m not sure if I would have found them on discovery. Since then, I have used the search option to add new accounts to follow. And sent zaps to complete strangers. It’s fun.

I get your point about “why am I following the account”. Someone who joined @primal said those exact words and immediately started to unfollow without reading a single post. I explained those accounts were based on her interests. She then decided to search for accounts based on her interests. After a while, she stopped searching. Go figure.

So I think there should be some balance to find a middle ground. Especially considering Nostr isn’t the most popular tool right and there are not many users covering diverse topics. Plus there’s still spam and bot accounts.


Thank you. I forgot they did indeed.
On other clients I think they show a list of well known personalities ?


Great post 👍


i love this response. very thoughtful!

it's very difficult at the moment to determine if there is an audience or community for different types of content. where do i find them? how can they find me?
tags are okay, but not everyone uses them.
and yes... the bots...  ;_;


Yeah, I checked today that I follow 191 accounts. So weird I thought - and indeed: no agency.


Thank you. 🫂 I’m not a fan of using hashtags in posts. Sometimes I use them. Most of the time I don’t. When I search hashtags, sometimes I get a lot of obvious bot posts. Throw in AI and sometimes you can’t even tell if an account is real. I try to be the person who adds nuance and multiple perspectives to a conversation. And then try to find a reasonable solution. I’m not simply a “yes” person. Although, I can easily agree with someone. It’s still early with Nostr. Post great content and the people will find it. The light will always shine. ✨


food for thought 🤝


thank you for the advice, Miss <3
and for the motivation    :3


Damus automatically has it sorted by certain topics and gives you people to follow.

Are you suggesting using #hashtags to boost yourself if one desires to reach the top of such a list?

I don’t care but others might. #asknostr

We disagree on trending but that’s normal for people to not have same views. Respect 🫡


devs do it to feel better about themselves and have a audience for their shit posting


I like to follow bitcoiners.


Onward 🫡


Primal autofollow list for new users is something to worry about indeed, saying this since months.


Auto follow is an anti pattern


Stick shift follow only.


Oh, I didn't know they have this. This may be why so many new accounts follow me.

I noticed yesterday an account with disturbing pictures followed me.


That’s reactionary thinking. Some of us are proactive. Make sense?

https://media.tenor.com/YxBC97--MC0AAAAC/im-plottin-things-jack-harlow.gif


I am now 🤣🤣🤣
￼ https://media.tenor.com/a12DmbFUelkAAAAC/animaniacs-yakko-warner.gif


Want to discuss elsewhere? Cause I have many questions 🙏


Followed

https://media.tenor.com/btnUjQ9oGMwAAAAC/immediately-owen-wilson.gif


Like the fit of this
Conquest! No Jest. Rock on King🤴 🤘
Let Queens lead the way

- it’s time
https://media.tenor.com/h8vuSdo4NNMAAAAC/queen-crown.gif


what client do you use?


#Amethyst for 90% of time since I use #nostr mainly on mobile and having #android.
Waiting to try Damus on Android, I bet Will will ship it as Christmas present this year.. 🔮😜


Manual (stick shift) not auto follow 😁


It makes sense why I see a lot of those people with big follower numbers but not much interaction on their posts. Primal's auto-follow feature results in accounts with a large number of followers but minimal engagement. This is likely because they are being automatically followed rather than being accounts that genuinely interest the user. I get why they might think it's necessary now, while Nostr is small, but I hope it's changed in the future.


Oh 🤣🙏🫡. Heard. https://media.tenor.com/oLJgARL0ua4AAAAC/cowboy-manuel.gif


You nailed it Sir..
nostr:nevent1qqstqhlxrqr369tgjut7xnjrmd7dsa0cs020rcyaxcrj9s76zd80mngpzpmhxue69uhkummnw3ezumt0d5hsygygv7ldj05fey7smzkf3vjy8324g7v7mwgeqdrfg6cjuql3xejy2qpsgqqqqqqskmrakm


Been saying this since they released primal


network are far better leads to a follow.


auto-following on account creation is a mistake. especially for nostr clients. takes a bunch of agency away and puts the person in a defensive position of “why am i following this account?”

trending, search, and topics are far better leads to a follow.


Precisely.


I don't want alot of followers, I want my core peeps 🤙🏻


No doubt Jack! I worked hard for 52 followers 🙃


If you don't earn it you don't appreciate it, people need to work for their engagement and reach


That's like forcing a date without asking! Give users some agency—let them decide who to stalk, not the algorithm!


This has led to npub follow lists full of spammy  npubs. Anytime someone generates an npub, the npubs currently trending (or whatever metric they're using) get a new npub.

Effect is the same as follow bots.

Example:
nostr:nprofile1qqsqtgsf9l63f966pkwre78lq4t43y6pxfnnnym4d83j68nlyw4y3aspzdmhxue69uhhqatjwpkx2urpvuhx2ue0qythwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnswf5k6ctv9ehx2ap0qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnyv9kh2uewd9hj77clz29

nostr:nevent1qqswsryg0j2eh89e5uy5ruwvpydwaewhd30tspgsxaww39j6yzrlm6qn49spd


Great post 👍


Onward 🫡


💯 Did you build a social media company at some point?


Yea, as a first-time social media and nostr user, that threw me off a bit when I signed up on Primal.


100% not a fan


Do you have an iOS client of choice? Seems like I picked poorly