Oddbean new post about login | logout I like npub too but it's context dependent. What I want to get rid of is the "Create account" buttons. "Create npub" doesn't work in that case, it's too confusing if you're new. "Create profile" is great, so I guess a profile has an npub, but isn't an npub.
Sorry what's wrong with "identity"
People are used to having multiple profiles. Only weirdos talk about their different identities.
i think profile is the right word... but i don't really see what is wrong with account, because it's just an identifier that associates many related items, the word account also means a story
account means "email/tel nr + password" for normies profile doesn't
Four syllables
Yeah, I think profile works well there. Also makes NIP-sense because we have profile events and that's what you're literally creating.
...but it doesn't work in the "what's your profile" sense because profiles change. The npub is static, which is why "what's your npub" works.
Maybe #nostrname - I use the #nostrname to locate someone first and then check the npub and nip-05 to see if they’re legit. There is a reasonable code of conduct not to use someone else’s name, but it is hardly trustworthy without the additional checks. Just see @jack and see how many jacks are out there.
problem with “profile” is that word has pejorative connotations, like you’re being “profiled” or the FBI has a profile on you. What about “gateway” or “portal”?
I prefer “profile” because it’s information that can be known by others and in most cases is made pubic. In contrast, “settings” is specific to the device or service and is usually private. I don’t like “persona” because it sounds too metaphysical for the average user.
I lean towards "Join Nostr" lately. And then some explainer that on Nostr it's all secured by cryptographic keys - "profile" misses that point even more than "account". I feel it should be "Nostr _network_" (not abc.com) -> "Keys/nsec/npub" -> "Profile, notes, etc". If we don't talk about keys then we might as well just keep using "account". And I think "what's your npub?" seems like the best option - it's short, it's purpose is same as "handle", it's new and different (people should learn about public keys), and it's shorter than "nostr id/address". OTOH even if we all start using "what's your npub?", I would bet people will be using "npub" to mean nip05 eventually, because nip05 serves the same purpose and is human readable.