👍 I agree. 

Portable identity is the biggest win overall for the average user in a free(ish) country (over mastodon). Data authenticity being big for those in less free countries, or in situations where an identity could be used to lure or harm others with fake posts. 

Relays are also much lighter software, so the financial barrier to hosting your own is lower. 

I can’t think of a single valid reason to argue against moderation tools for relay operators. They aren’t obligated to host anyone’s content, and they sure as hell don’t owe it to anyone to go to prison for them. Nor would I want to be complicit in the distribution of certain materials. 

The only thing I don’t trust Nostr to do (for free anyways) is data retention - which is why i write my articles in plain markdown and self host a copy. My shitposts don’t matter. 

 I agree with all of this, but it still doesn't address the censorship issue, there is nothing to stop relays censoring political content the owners don't like.   Using other relays isn't really an option if nobody else is using them.  MY argument is really against those who claim Nostr is censorship resistant. It isn't really, its only as censorship resistant as the large relay operators chose.  Other relays are not relevant, just as Facebook is not censorship resistant because you can  switch to myspace.