Nostr Web Client

As for the “just leave it an option and change the default”, there’s no reason to do that that I’ve seen either. As you note, most nodes run with the default options, so it doesn’t delay or prevent these transactions from being mined. The only impact it has is it makes you and your peers use more bandwidth and slows down block propagation.

Having policy be configurable is actually a really bad idea generally, and including this specific case.

supermass 8mo ago 💬 1

I guess I am starting to come around, here's my understanding..

Even if long-term demand for nonstandard transactions does not meaningfully materialize (as I claim it won't), the present set of actors (whoever it is and whatever they are doing) will be contributing a centralizing influence on miners because larger ones can claim the fees of confirming these transactions without eating the slippage from excluding other, standard transactions instead. They can reasonably expect to get the transactions confirmed quickly.

Removing any OP_RETURN limitations removes the mining influence immediately. It still remains cheaper to use witness data in general, so the additional pressure for data anchoring that is introduced by OP_RETURN is minimal.

I still don't know how I feel about removing configurable policy.

I understand the argument for this specific case, but in general? Especially for something like bitcoin.conf which we've both conceded will only be altered by enthusiasts. How many options should be done away with?

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Discussion

Matt Corallo 8mo ago 💬 1

In general, my view is software shouldn’t have options that let you shoot your foot off, even accidentally. Even if you can live fine without a foot, you probably prefer to have it.

For relay policy, divergent rules tends to be that. There may be some exceptions (like “I have little CPU power and can’t process complicated packages of transactions” or “I have little memory and want a smaller mempool” or even “this may get used in the future but it isn’t now so have an option so people can enable some new transactions without upgrading”), but in most cases divergent policy is simply divergent policy, and only harms the user”.

supermass 8mo ago 💬 1

Thank you for taking the time to discuss

Matt Corallo 8mo ago

Thank you for asking good questions!