>”turning it into a contest will result in abuse. I don't see a trivial way to avoid that.”

Thanks for taking a look. This is exactly why I’ve been so adamant to get eyes on this flow. The system will be gamed. 

While I’ve always been naively optimistic, I’m also Bert clear that a “water tight” rule-set is not possible, and also that incentives make cheating even more profitable. 

That being said… 

I do see the stakes as being pretty high, as I’ve described before. Webs of trust and “Real humans making friends on nostr” is the best way I know to shield new users from bots and bad actors. This  behavior deserves to be incentivized. So… there’s that. 

I want to have this conversation in earnest with a few people smarter than myself. Thanks for your input.