Oddbean new post about | logout
 Could also be part of client onboarding. 

"Nostr is different. Instead of using one central server, nostr uses interchangeable relays to hold your data." 

"By holding your keys, you are in control of your profile. Nobody but you can modify your speech or silence you."  
 Okay sorry to be soooo normie here, but even the word “keys” is very specific to a set of people. I’m sure it can be inferred what it means, but I could also see people being like, is that a password, a physical drive, why are they calling it keys, etc? 

I even think relays kind of needs to be explained, I didn’t exactly understand them when I first started.

What would attract me would be saying that my data is not owned by a centralized corporation. there are a bunch of small entities that can hold the data in nostr, but it’s up to me in which entities it’s held. I am 100% in control of my profile, what I see, where my data is being held. Nobody but me can modify my speech or silence me

(Which is essentially what you said, in more “normie” terms) 
 And bring up other companies. Are you tired of meta deciding what you see? Are you tired of Twitter showing you what Elon wants to see? Are you mad that big corporations are using all of your private data to control every aspect of your life? Then guess what… alternatives exist. 
 And going back to @fiatjaf original point, a basic diagram explaining the concept of relays and connecting is a good idea 
 Sure, it should be understandable to normies, but not everything can be abstracted away. People had to learn what email addresses are, and now they'll have to learn what keys are.  
 Yes I agree, don’t get rid of the term, but perhaps explain it. 
 Spot on. This idea of obfuscating keys is dumb. If explaining to an alien our legacy login system and keys, keys are waaaaayy simpler. Also, the whole point is we are arming people with the most powerful tool of liberation, public key crypto.  
 Also it's not like the basic concept of keys is somehow super complex and hard to grasp. 
 To me this point is the greatest hurdle in society, at least in the US.

Normie land has gone so far to the “just give me the short or simple version.” That no one understands the foundations of anything.

Everyone is just in it to make a quick buck and move on to the next dollar or thing as fast as possible. Everything feels like a big sale without anyone having real interest other than how quickly can money be made. 
 No need to be condescending, your fellow citizens are just fine with their comprehension. 
 My bad, didn’t realize that was condescending. Just something that’s very noticeable. 
 Normies will have to learn what "keys" are. They managed to learn what penicillin, microwaves and email is, they will manage this one too, no need to be condescending.

FIDO/"passkeys" are being pushed now, that's the avenue into the key lifestyle.

https://blog.google/technology/safety-security/passkeys-default-google-accounts/ 
 Its not difficult to figure out what keys are. Its how to handle it responsibly on your own is difficult. And WHY it makes sense is what should be explained

Microwaves are extremely dangerous (not that in the kitchen but those flying in the air) thats why there are tons of regulations and policies enforced by govts

Even if its not best experience recovering lost gmail of AppleID password its still possible at least in courts eventually. People don’t want to live in fear that if they hwallet/paper/brain is lost - they MUST forget about all of their wealth/identity 
 Shut up