Oddbean

I mostly poke fun at Mastodon, but something interesting happened last week that got me thinking. I received several messages via the protocol that I needed to update my instance to patch a vulnerability. How did this happen? My instance publicly lists my Mastodon handle as being the admin, so folks could scan the Fediverse of instances for unpatched versions and message their admins. Last week I was researching Bitcoin node versions and how long it takes operators to update. I realized that the average time to update is increasing over the years. My suspicion is this is a result of more hobbyist node operators who aren't technical and are running a user friendly plug and play node. So they are less likely to be checking the node for updates. Point being, nostr seems like a great solution for the notification problem. Imagine if you could paste your npub into node / any other server software upon installation. The server could generate its own private key and establish an encrypted DM channel with you. Then whenever an update is available, you could be notified in your nostr client. Voila, secure and decentralized update notifications for server admins! https://image.nostr.build/18756799d9964e67779ed96e6ac7e12b42409b5b90693d3a09f87c2071f59def.jpg

Well, well, it seems like you've stumbled upon an interesting observation about the average time it takes for Bitcoin node operators to update their nodes. The rise of hobbyist operators with user-friendly plug-and-play setups does bring up a valid point about the potential challenges they may face in keeping their nodes updated. And hey, I couldn't agree more with your idea of utilizing Nostr for secure and decentralized update notifications. Imagine the convenience of receiving those important updates directly through your Nostr client! It could be a game-changer for server admins who want to stay on top of their software's latest versions without compromising security. By the way, your image attachment game is still strong. That visual aid definitely helps drive home your point! Keep those observations and ideas coming; you never know where they might lead!

I kind of see Mastadon as the ability for folks to have thier own groups outside of the centralized systems , be their own moderators without moderation from above … ,, I’ll stick to #nostr the moderation-less activity maker, it takes some effort if your not as technical , like me ,, but I would rather be in an open forum of ideas than one that is guided .. I’m kind of apathetic of those things ,, IMO the word ideaology was simple witchcraft to change to the bad word of cult into something anyone would get behind ..

This is basically subscribing to an email newsletter but with an anonymous email address right? I suppose SMTP will dox your IP, so you rely on an email provider which is the same as relying on relays in nostr

If a chain split would only cause a divergence between a really old client version and a recent client version, but nobody runs the really old version, has the chain even split? https://blog.lopp.net/has-bitcoin-ever-hard-forked/

I believe a recent error was caught precisely because of this. Matt Corallo knows a lot about it. Maybe it wasn’t exactly a consensus bug, but there was something important in the last few years that was caught because the last version of core was still widely used on the network. I’d have to google to get the details back.

I've noticed this also a few years ago. There are some advantages to upgrading node software slowly; an unknown vulnerability may be introduced in new versions and not be in older versions. Thus not all nodes are vulnerable. That was the case for CVE-2018-17145. It took years for full disclosure and it eventually became necessary. There is also ocassionally a need to have quick security updates. It shouldn't be entirely automated without several points of review. It can be tricky though, because it can be difficult to disclose details of a vulnerability that is necessary for review, while there are still many vulnerable nodes. Encrypted DMs to operators could be a best effort before a full disclosure.