Oddbean new post about | logout
 this is a drawback of handling everything client-side and having server that is only a "dumb" relay that doesn't do message specific validation and feedback

matrix has a similar problem, though there is sufficient client centralization that one client (element) pretty much decides what is going to be shown and what isn't 
 Yep, the drawback is the cost of censorship resistance. 
 in a way

i think relays rejecting notes that are non-valid according to the spec with a clear message would make for a better developer (and eventually user) experience, and not be censorship: you can post any content as long as it's correctly formatted, at least things are not accepted then silently hidden

however, what it would trade away is flexibility; that relays have knowledge of the message kinds and do checking makes it harder to experiment with new extensions and kinds, and possibly get in the way of "other stuff" uses, i definitely get the point why it was designed like this