Oddbean new post about login | logout I sometimes wonder if the whole account / log in / register terminology is a giant mistake. 🧐
What icon(s) do you most associate with npub? With nsec?
I’m talking about the language we use and how we frame it. I wonder if we should completely do away with it and embrace “keys” “Access key” “Read only key” For example …
Yes. I am asking about the visual language, which I am guessing is easier for people to grok. For instance, microsoft gulag corporate “account” is the faceless person upper body silhouette.
Yes. I've been using nostr only for a few days but have been thinking that it was a bit off when clients referred to "accounts". "Read-Only Key" works, but "Access Key" does not capture the main idea since "access" could also mean only "read". Maybe something like "Write Key" or "Write Access Key".
View-only key Full-access key
Publish Read only
Publish key doesn't emphasize, that this is the secret key. On centralized platforms you can give someone publish rights, and later revoke it with your full/admin access.
I have qualms about key being used for the npub.
Key Etymology: “
> instrument for opening locks," Middle English keie, from Old English cæg "metal piece that works a lock, key" literal and figurative ("solution, explanation, one who or that which opens the way or explains"), a word of unknown origin, abnormal evolution, and no sure cognates other than Old Frisian kei.”
Key makes perfect sense for nsec. If you're talking about Nostr, I agree.
I was referring to space sandwiches 🥪
Then the issue resolves itself when the sandwich is eaten.
“Profile” can be used interchangeably instead of “Account”. One can “create a profile” and “delete a profile” and “follow a profile” without too much mental gymnastics. “Sign Event(s)” is a little more of a hurdle, being ephemeral. People are used to “signing in” and staying “signed in” until “signing out”. The nostr ecosystem is just more complex than this… and the mental burden is unavoidable.
Agree on profile. Think we might be on without signing in and out
Key managers will help. One could (sort of) “sign in” to a client using a key manager. But this experience is no where near consistent. None the less … “sign in” (as a term) is closer to the nostr truth than “log in”.