Most Nostr users post to relays on Cloudflare and Hetzner
They don’t realize that they’re easily censored, and it’s not decentralized.
Here’s our NEW guide to Nostr relays:
https://simplifiedprivacy.com/nostr-relay-guide/
Featuring a guide to Tor Onion relays, with tips for speed on Gossip:
https://simplifiedprivacy.com/tor-nostr/
Plus a list of clearweb relays by company, so you can diversify,
https://simplifiedprivacy.com/nostr-relays-by-company/
I’m an optimist. I’m putting in the effort. If you want to stay an obedient Big Tech slave, you chose to do so. Don’t you dare spit that pessimism at me.
Change is possible, it comes from you. Share this, they gotta learn also.
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Thank you! How many relays is too much?
Too many only really hurts you if you want to remove a post after its up. Then it will take forever, and people will still see it
You can run a home DIY @Start9 server on a used/spare desktop very easily. With just a couple clicks you can run a personal nostr relay on it that you can whitelist just your npub to. It is a way to have your own copy of all your notes.
start9 and self hosting has been as impactful or maybe more impactful as btc to me. ive completely de googled, control all my data and have all the tools to still enjoy things like synced calendars, contacts, local cloud storage, the list goes on 🤙
incredible project
What do you self host using @Start9 ?
I mainly use it for a lightning node, and nostr relay but you can keep all your own photos and documents on your own computer instead of "on the cloud" which really just means some corporations computer that spies on you and can lock you out at anytime.
Cool. So you can run both a node and a nostr ralay.
Yes, Start9 is a linux operating system that you flash a comptuter with. Then they have a "marketplace" of apps that run on it including bitcoin core ( full or pruned ), CLN, LND, LNBits, Ride the Lighting, Nostr Relay and others to store photos and docs and more that you can install with just a few clicks. It is an easy awesome way to host because each app has a unique tor address so you can connect to your home computer app on mobile. Lots to play with.
https://marketplace.start9.com/
I use an old cheap Dell Optiplex with 8GB and a 1 T SSD
I run a separate bitcoin full node on dedicated hardware. I don't want a bunch of apps on my fullnode.
many can do stuff without spending big bucks with whatever hardware n service they already have n pay for
nextcloud for local cloud file storage, jellyfin for media streaming, vaultwarden for password management...then tons of btc and nostr related stuff as well. im not super comftorable with command line linux ( although ive gotten better) and start9 just pushes that all to the background...simply click, install, use
it's really important that well architected, configurable and scalable relays are built too, which also means good quality clients and tooling to test them with
i'm of the opinion that some kind of hybrid of blossom and personal relays will eventually prove to be the base layer of nostr
the hardest part of the problem is going to be inbound routing
How beneficial is running your own relay and how expensive it gets?
biggest problem is that most clients don't support NIP-42 so it's almost impossible to screen out leechy DoS attacks by query
and this will continue to be a problem until all the client devs get off their arses and build NIP-42 support, and this is my personal crusade du jour because of the fact that it impedes SO MANY USE CASES
i just want to add, that you can theoretically run a relay on your own device, if you have a VPS with wireguard and a reverse proxy, and a firewall filter that only permits you to access it from your wireguard connected devices
but this is at best a way to have your own personal cache of your notes, it doesn't make it very easy to have other users on it as well, for that you need some kind of tool that scrapes other relays to push them to your relay
It depends on your traffic similar to a website. More traffic = more cost.
Strfry can be run in docker, so its not that complex. It's only beneficial if you convince people to use it
IMHO, bigger trouble would be disk capacity than network limit (speed/capacity). VPS usualy don't have big disks.
Or do you mean to run it at home? Tor-based relay?
Yes to both disk and bandwidth. More users posting to your relay = more data
If KOSA passes in the US this will be more important than ever.
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This is great! We all gotta do our part to grow this ecosystem and to ensure we have a more free and prosperous future. I'm also trying to do my small part by on-boarding normies and non techies, feel free to share if you guys think this video could help:
https://m.primal.net/HnUB.mp4
Cloudflair is cancer. Stop using it.
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This is great! I've been looking for more small relays to use!
500+ small relays which r not loaded at all
using CF for just frontend DDOS protection is FINE so long they run 🧅 version also - few of the u listed r doing that already
real decentralize starts with users not admins only
My question is, then, how one can know if a relay is Cloudflared, Hetzner'd or Amazon'd. How would one know if any of these relays are compromised?