Oddbean new post about | logout
 if most people use the same small subset of relays then we've failed. if most people use blastr then we've failed. blastr is a crutch. 
 Define "small subset." And how is it a failure of anything to use blastr and ensure that your notes are in as many relays as possible? That is far more decentralized than having my notes only on a couple of small and less reliable relays like your suggesting.  
 nostr wasn't designed to have everyone use blastr to distribute their notes across every relay. not all relays want to host notes from everyone. this increases storage and resource costs for relay operators. it's not a problem now, but it becomes a problem if we hit 1M active users. 
 From a user perspective, blastr is insurance against finicky or unreliable relays and relay operators. It ensures redundancy of users' data so that even if many relays go down, your notes still exist somewhere and likely somewhere others will find them. Outbox model ensures your notes are findable wherever they are, even if on a single obscure relay. But Outbox does nothing to solve for redundancy of your data, from my understanding. With most users onboarding via mobile app clients using a small number of bootstrap relays, I don't see Outbox as being a magic bullet that instantly decentralizes user data and ensures it's redundancy. Blastr does. Maybe you see it as a crutch, but I see it as an extremely useful tool and if some relay operators don't want to host all that data, then all the more reason to blast it out to more redundant relays. Outbox sounds very useful, but it doesn't solve for some things users need.  
 I like the idea of doing this in order to find weaknesses, report issues, amd strengthen relays and clients as a whole. Doesn’t mean it’s how we should always use it to get proper distribution of our notes, but it’s early enough that those of us who want to can help kick more tires.

And then also make more blastrs to reduce centralization failures 🤷‍♂️ 
 You're also discounting how many notes self-propogate. I've published the test results of my relay multiple times.

All notes on at least 3 major relays and 10 minor relays within 15 seconds, and it just expands from there. 
 Everyone is ignoring how redundant relays are, even without blastr.

nostr:note18q5ju8zrtwv8eh5xr6pywad28vf0rjgg2alfenw6nhyvc0dv4ljssjryty 
 My notes are only successfully posting to roughly a third oof the relays I am trying to post to.  Do you know how to find out why posts are failing?  About half, that fail, are being rejected and half are a no response most of the time.  Maybe I need to change what relays I am using. 
 Yes, I'll look at it, later. 
 You have a bunch of subscription and read-only relays

Keep this one and maybe one or two more. The schooling one, maybe. And anything you've paid for.
wss://theforest.nostr1.com/ 
 I'm willing to pay for a good relay.  Without payment, they aren't likely to stay around long term.  Are there any that you think are worth paying for?  Are most paid for in lightning or fiat?  Are most monthly, annually, once? 
 You can just add nostr21.com and pay him 21 sats one-time fee. Keeps the worst of the spammers out. 
 He may have to move to regular payments, tho, long-term. 
 Make sure you type the name of my relay, correctly. Only one "r". 
 Which client so you usually use? 
 Mostly Coracle on a PC. 
 Okay, good. Coracle works well, even just with the forest. 
 Coracle is a good choice, overall, with trustworthy developers. 
 I notice I have your relay listed 3 times.  One all lowercase with one "r", one all lowercase with two "r", and one with the two words starting with capital letters.  I think that proves I not only don't know what I'm doing, but I also forget that I already added the relay.  ;) 
 😂 No problem. Everyone's relays are a mess. #gossip model, FTW. 
 Joke is on you. I don't even know what blastr is! 
 It's a relay that broadcasts all of your notes to many other relays. 
 brand new user here, starting with primal...suggestions in what relays to use? 
 Honestly it doesn't matter all that much. Primal uses a caching service. Just engage and embrace the notes 🤙🏻💜🫂 
 Awesome thanks! And any reason why when I tried to activate my primal wallet it says it in the activation email it can't activate based on my info? I don't think it matters as I think I got alby to work instead (haven't tested though) 
 im not sure. are you in canada or new york state? primal uses Strike. if Strike doesn't work in your jurisdiction, then Primal wallet won't either. 
 No, I actually have a strike account but wanted to test the onboarding of primal wallet, maybe too new of a user, triggered some kind of spam filter