Oddbean

Not the widest audience, but the most receptive/interested audience, yes. Even hashtags don't really work, as they're so spammy and most people don't use them, and if everyone is only looking at the trending list, and you're not trending, then they literally don't see you (even if they follow you). Most of the users on here have never seen anything I've written. Since I often write about obscure/niche topics, this is a real problem. There's currently no way for me to just ask if there are other people who want to talk about Tibetan philosophy, or whatnot, because you have to see me asking to answer the question. Catch 22. I'm essentially "forced" to write about Bitcoin, in order to get more visibility, so that I can then ask the new followers, if they are also interested in Tibetan philosophy. It's algo-driven writing, basically, like the way people on Instagram were all obligated to have at least one BLM post, and then they had to have a #metoo post, and etc. I'm hoping relay-communities and better algos fix that, but the vote's still out.

I share the feeling. I don’t really know how to help either (other than following and engaging with your posts, of course). Every time I log in to Mastodon and find plenty of relevant niche content, plus a friendly, responsive community, my instinct is to just give up on Nostr and stop trying to improve things here. But then again, I remember how it felt back in the day when ActivityPub was just starting and how long it took to make it work for me (with no help from any algorithms). Personally, I like building things and think Nostr has potential. This is my intrinsic motivation—and boy, oh boy, the current state of Nostr requires a lot of intrinsic motivation. Yes, at the moment, Nostr is a BTC marketing ecosystem. Users are expected to chill BTC companies and products, while devs are often sponsored by BTC-related companies or receive grants paid in BTC. Nostr "influencer" accounts are, unsurprisingly, posting and enforcing mandated positivity towards BTC-related content. Nostr can and will be much more than just a second Twitter for bitcoiners, but it needs folks like you and me to stick around, run infrastructure on neutral grounds, build things, try experimental Nostr software (and actually get devs to troubleshoot their stuff for a change), post good content, and help build communities around the niche subjects we enjoy. In a couple of years, there's about a 99.99% chance that some of today's most popular Nostr "influencer" accounts will be jumping onto the "next big thing," often leaving a trail of destruction behind (and no, I’m not pointing fingers or bad-mouthing anyone). The beauty of open-source software is that it will become whatever the people who stick around and get their hands dirty decide it to be.

We need better DVM support, DVMs are a great content discovery tool, it's also a great way to start communities. Like someone may run a DVM for sports content, like F1 , Politics, Books and whatever they want.