Oddbean new post about | logout
 Nostr cannot compete against the big platforms on the same field. If you try to make Nostr apps exactly like Twitter they will just be an inferior copycat. Nostr's competitive advantage is the fact that it is an open protocol, trying to hide that from users is the asking for defeat. 
 What I mean is that apps shouldn't be afraid of displaying cryptographic gibberish, raw JSON or relay URLs to end users. 
 But gradually... 
Just handling a private key or dealing with an extension itself takes a bit of learning.
Read relays & write relays and paid & public -- everything at once is a bit confusing tbh 
 🪪

Don’t be shy 
 Completely agree, especially on the JSON. Only client i know that makes this readily available is Gossip and I miss it when Im using other clients. Exposing the JSON would help people see how it works. 
 the simplicity of the protocol (everything is a json event) is why so many are hacking on nostr. seeing the raw payload can spark a tinkerer’s imagination. the big platforms are private, permissioned, and complex - not developer friendly. nostr is the opposite and should lean into it. 
 anecdotally, I do this shit for a living. I used to hack on matrix and abandoned it when nostr came along. the LOE is so great with nostr. 
 I have already tried several that have the option to view RAW data
 
 This could make an interesting behind the scenes mode. 
 Hmmm I think I disagree...

Open != technically complex

Nostr UX will continue to improve and in a lot of use cases that will mean abstracting the complexity away from users. I agree that we shouldn't abstract at the expense of openness, but the good UX breakthroughs won't.  
 What advantage would that have for the average non-technical user to show the cryptography and json?
Wouldn’t an on-off switch in settings be a good solution?
Though I do believe relays are pretty user friendly as it is always just a domain. 
 Why would an app want or need to show that? 
 Agree with the first note, disagree with the second one.

Not because apps SHOULD be afraid of displaying gibberish to users, but because the second note lists the 5% least interesting aspect that the first note explores 
 Tell me you don't salivate a little every time you see an nprofile. 
 You can have apps built on the protocol. You don’t need to know how to do DIY encryption and signatures and signature verification to 💩post. 

You can have a 🚗 built on centuries of improvements of ICE tech. You don’t need to know how a carburator works or how to fix one to drive the car.

In both cases you can and should be able to look under the hood, for those willing and able. 
 Also, I queued a note in Shipyard that will publish later today that roughly says what you wrote.

I knew I should have implemented OTS on Shipyard earlier!!!! 
 Blame @pkt. 
 It makes perfect sense. It's not worth hiding what's going on behind the scenes.
Anyone who wants to see it can see it, anyone who doesn't want to see it doesn't have to click on 'RAW data' 😀
The main thing is to not take that possibility away 
 I think it should be thrown in the faces of people, even those who don't want to see. 
 It seems a bit exaggerated to me, but I respect your opinion 
 nostr:nevent1qqstjaan668708w55nkwzrqy2wk7a29pj38cnj5ckp3fqekqyr8qaxqpzdmhxue69uhhyetvv9ukzcnvv5hx7un8qgsrhuxx8l9ex335q7he0f09aej04zpazpl0ne2cgukyawd24mayt8grqsqqqqqpu3w664 
 There are such niches to take with open protocol, distributed and lightning integration 
 In addition, the pursuit of a copy of #Twitter is too low of an ambition, there are better ideas than Twitter, and #nostr facilities their discovery. 
 X a des aliments en termes de diversités d'informations  qu'aucun autre site ne fournit quelque soit le profil et pedigree de l'utilisateur nul besoin d'être formaté à un produit ou client. Il y a tant de gens avec lesquels je voudrais continuer à interagir sur X qui ne seront pas intéressés par certaines thématiques qu'ils trouveront fort *curieusement ubuesques* surtout venant de sommités de nostr j'avoue c'est ennuyeux, avant-hier suis tombée sur des interactions qui résumaient à peu nostr.. Derek a dû tomber dessus mais il serait intéressant de s'atteler à ces points. Merci 
 Yes. It must be aimed first at solving the money problem. Using it to combat propaganda now is not the battle. It needs traction first and there are plenty of money problems to be solved and traders waiting #civkit 
 Not locking out views for non account sign ins is a killer abvious 

Twatter is just as useless as Facebook now on that issue.  
 Nobody is going to pay to see what Joe blow internet blowhard posted on xyz shit site 
 Least not anyone I'll talk to 
 I’m not sure that’s entirely true. Twitter (X) isn’t exactly a technological wonder when it comes to software design. They actually got it easy when it comes to the underlying infrastructure, with it being centralized. It’s much more difficult to make a client work well with an open protocol like Nostr. The only thing X has that Nostr doesn’t is ads and annoying algos; hard pass. 
 Jakuk je pense que nous n'avons pas malheureusement la même grille de lecture sur l'essence même des contenus dans ce cas construisez uniquement des outils essentiellement dont la cible serait des clientdc spécifiquement techniques et les dissocier  d'un type de réseau social qui serait à créér  
 💯 
 Having for example, followers/following so prominently in a user’s profile, is just a copy of the corporate social media.

The following/followers feature is basically a social credit system. 
 What’s wrong with seeing who people follow? I agree, followers count could disappear as far as I’m concerned. 
 🧐🤔 
 No, it's helpful to build a web of trust 
 What makes it stand out for me is that (using amethyst) I have tabs that emulate telegram, instagram, twitter, twitch, spotify etc all in one app seamlessly and then I have access to countless other experiences with one identity and community that move across all of them. It is something special.  
 This 

nostr:nevent1qqst37wf0lkyrsqwc0ffwgxhc749keqv6f8les733d6akun4rrrcrjqppemhxue69uhkummn9ekx7mp0qgsrhuxx8l9ex335q7he0f09aej04zpazpl0ne2cgukyawd24mayt8grqsqqqqqp2dyuqt 
 la comparaison devrait cesser car ni Elon et MZ ne passent leur temps à évoquer nostr sur leur plate-forme. La plupart des nostriches qui évoquent ou critiquent  X, Threads cherchent des clients sur ces plateformes, ils ont tous  la même approche si nulle pour faire du Trading, finissent d'ailleurs par dégoûter de la cryptomonnaie, en inondant  les  DM, que soit sur nostr et X de quoi se méfier du secteur avec leur  mauvaise technique de ventes 
 💯💯💯⚡️⚡️⚡️

nostr:nevent1qqst37wf0lkyrsqwc0ffwgxhc749keqv6f8les733d6akun4rrrcrjqprdmhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumn0wd68y6trdpjhxtn0wfnj7q3q80cvv07tjdrrgpa0j7j7tmnyl2yr6yr7l8j4s3evf6u64th6gkwsxpqqqqqqzd7p70r 
 Maybe Twitter is just a shittier imitation of a Nostr app. 
 Votre note n'est elle quelque part digne de Molière me pose cette question !? 😂😂 
 What about the Nostr scaling issue? Relays are not rewarded (to my knowledge). This is not sustainable. Nothing in life is free. It's fine with 20k WAU, but not at mainstream penetration. 

Also paid relays are not the solution. No one wants to pay to play. That's not "free" speech, literally. 

There needs to be some Tokenization to incentivize relays, and even incorporate clients into the mix. Other proposed solutions? 
 If you are not paying for the product, you are the product. Good question though. 
 La fameuse phrase être un produit nous le sommes plus ... à moins de vivre dans un monastère ..c'est nous qui faisons fonctionner les systèmes soit en travaillant ou autres  
 Devs will be devs...

I'm neutral 😐 but with inclination towards complexity hiding

nostr:nevent1qqst37wf0lkyrsqwc0ffwgxhc749keqv6f8les733d6akun4rrrcrjqpp4mhxue69uhkummn9ekx7mqzyqalp33lewf5vdq847t6te0wvnags0gs0mu72kz8938tn24wlfze6qcyqqqqqqgugzr49 
 Same 
 Nostr has an agility advantage over the big platforms. Different clients can try different features and see what sticks with users.

The big platforms only make incremental changes.  
 Fair point. The glaring missed "thing" for me is a music streaming protocol or plug in. Napster, but with Zaps essentially. 

Spotify, which most people use, and the artists don't get any soverignty of how much they'd like to suggest for a stream or download and I certainly can't zap them. 

It seems so obvious to me that building in Zaps to EVERYTHING is the direction we need to go.

nostr:nevent1qqst37wf0lkyrsqwc0ffwgxhc749keqv6f8les733d6akun4rrrcrjqpz9mhxue69uhkummnw3ezuamfdejj7q3q80cvv07tjdrrgpa0j7j7tmnyl2yr6yr7l8j4s3evf6u64th6gkwsxpqqqqqqzq2sqyk 
 The advantage of Nostr is that it does not require mobile phone number registration, and under the interception of a firewall in China, Nostr can be used normally. 😝😝 Unfortunately, many Chinese people do not know that there is a software called Nostr. 
Only Chinese users who have used Twitter know that there is a Nostr product. 
 I am trying to use Nostr again and also trying to understand why my Nostr account is so struggling to load my profile, pictures and timeline. I have three paid relays? Do I need more paid relays ?

How can I improve the loading times ? 
 Change client till you find one that works for you. Its the solution.  Some clients take ages to load. Others work well  
 Thx will try that 
 Yeah, we need more illegal content 😆 
 Exactly 💯💯 Nostr is a great hub. Twitter is just a social application but Nostr is more than just social application.

nostr:note1hruujllvg8qqas7jjusd03a2tdjqe5j0lnparzm4mde82xx8s8yqen7ekx 
 I think it could be cool to spread the word of the nostr browsers like "Spring" on android. One loging for multiple services in one app, is something new for lots of people that's unique.

Same identity cross multiple services. 
 I'm a glass half full guy myself.....Can't leads to won't street..."Upgrade" 
 I don’t think that’s true. Email won and no one realizes it’s an open protocol. 
 wouldnt email be great if everybody knows how to use pgp 
 kinda agree, the only platform on nostr thats comparable with twitter is probably mindsdotcom, which is shit compared to twitter too lol 
 damus will be seperate, please
@jack 
 To participate is wishful thinking and I wish! Persevere and don’t let anyone destroy your dreams.  
 So true

nostr:nevent1qqst37wf0lkyrsqwc0ffwgxhc749keqv6f8les733d6akun4rrrcrjqprpmhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumn0wd68ytnrdakjuct4qgsrhuxx8l9ex335q7he0f09aej04zpazpl0ne2cgukyawd24mayt8grqsqqqqqp9z9wem 
 Time and ingeniuity will show the way.
IMHO open protocols are no "worry protocols" - #nostr like #bitcoin are "idea plants" that grow through concrete. 
Collective intelligence will come up with solutions we can't even imagine. 
Decentralized networks are growing intelligence boosters!  
 I think we should pretty much worry about Bitcoin today still. Nostr is much more fragile and needs much more nurturing. 
 100% agreed 
 What can we as users do to nurture #nostr? 
I could spread your thoughts and message on a podcast next week.

Does anybody work on easy-to-setup-relays? 

 
 agree with the first part, no point in half-ass clones..

but on the other hand this current ideology/protocol-forward marketing is only ever useful in the initial, movement-shaping phase

utility and ux will bring about adoption, while the ideology either survives or it doesn't, otherwise ideological victory in irrelevance is just another type of defeat 
 I don't think tech needs to choose between being friendly towards average users and tinkerers. You can strike a happy medium. @fiatjaf's post makes me think of the recent Fast Company article on Obsidian: https://www.fastcompany.com/90960653/why-people-are-obsessed-with-obsidian-the-indie-darling-of-notetaking-apps

The crux of the piece is basically that the note-taking app Obsidian has grown to 1 million users despite not being very user-friendly because it requires knowledge of Markdown. I don't think Markdown is the major barrier here. Most of the things a user might want to do with text notes (bullet points, bold and italics, headers) can be easily toggled with UI buttons in Obsidian. I think most digital natives have at least a passing familiarity with markup languages or can easily adapt.

Obsidian is actually good example of how software can be both user- and programmer-friendly. Nostr still has a lot of hurdles in the way of mass adoption, but being able to peek under the hood isn't one of them.

nostr:note1hruujllvg8qqas7jjusd03a2tdjqe5j0lnparzm4mde82xx8s8yqen7ekx  
 La Ventaja competitiva de Nostr son los zaps ⚡es #Bitcon Few.

nostr:nevent1qqst37wf0lkyrsqwc0ffwgxhc749keqv6f8les733d6akun4rrrcrjqpypmhxue69uhhyetvv9ujucnfw33k76twvfshycm9d3hkucfw0puh5q3q80cvv07tjdrrgpa0j7j7tmnyl2yr6yr7l8j4s3evf6u64th6gkwsxpqqqqqqzukemvw 
 you spelled the nostr wrong. three times. 😝