Nostr Web Client

For me I highly value the reverse cronological order because I've performed the same search dozens if not hundreds of times. I want to see the latest results. Additionally, feeds tend to "OR" the terms together. For example, the feed might show results that have "asknostr" OR "libertarian" OR "from:npub****". With search results on the other hand, people tend to want them to be "AND"ed together, such as with "Spongebob" AND "meme" AND "toilet".

Does that sound right?

david 1y ago

Yeah, the AND vs OR distinction makes sense, and I think it fits well into the larger conceptual framework I have in mind.

So maybe there are two categories of keyword search:

1. feeds

- results arranged in reverse chronological order

- search criteria combined via OR

- examples from the fiat world: Twitter, fb, other social media

2. Non-feed search results

- results arranged by “importance scores”

- search criteria combined via AND

- examples from the fiat world: Google search

The first case, you’re basically engaged in conversations with other users, so a strong recency bias makes sense. In the second case, you’re looking for info that is not necessarily recent. There is no “conversation” per se.

What do you think?

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Discussion

david 1y ago

In the first case, you’re looking outward, engaging in convo with other people.

In the second case, you’re looking inward, engaged in quiet contemplation. You’re harvesting info from outside sources but not necessarily doing so for the sake of conversation.

Two very different mindsets, requiring two very different user experiences.

david 1y ago

As builders, perhaps it makes sense to appreciate the above two, quite distinct states of mind: outward looking versus inward looking.

There’s a reason that the Google search results page doesn’t have like buttons, doesn’t prompt you to leave comments, etc. It’s bc users adopt the inward looking state of mind, not the outward looking one. They are expecting to consume content without also producing it.

Scoundrel 1y ago

I don't think it makes sense to design a product for people who only consume and never contribute. Even Google goes to great lengths to sell their customers. Besides, what could a person even get out of Nostr if they refuse to engage?

david 1y ago

So if I use Google search (without engaging or contributing) just one time, does that equal refusing to engage or contribute forever and ever?

As consumers we don’t just do the same thing all the time. There are distinct products for distinct purposes.

Scoundrel 1y ago

I don't know, but Google certainly wouldn't be too happy about wasting their servertime on you.

Could you give examples of useful AND based Nostr searchs?

david 1y ago

I did a Google search the other day and I didn’t click the like button on a single search result! Didn’t leave any comments either. No upvotes, nothing. They haven’t banned me from their servers yet.

idk what you mean by a based search.

Scoundrel 1y ago

Google used the information from your search to build more of their profile of you, which they DO sell to people. Google records the links people click and uses that data as well. You can rest easy knowing that Google will do anything they can to take their pound of flesh from you.

I said an "AND based" search, meaning based on returning only notes matching every term rather than returning results matching any term. Does that clarify my question?

david 1y ago

haha yes, I misread your question, my bad.

Although I suppose I still don’t understand your question. You want to know whether there are any nostr AND based search engines? Not that I know of. You want me to give an example of an AND based search that I’d actually like to run? How about a search I just ran on Google: “LMDB” + “neo4j” + “ETL pipeline”. Of course, nostr is too young and devoid of content to give anything useful for that search, but hopefully one day that won’t be the case.

How about if I want content authored by Alice AND containing some specific keyword.

david 1y ago

Yes, I understand that Google records my searches and clicks and every piece of data they can lay their hands on about me, so they can monetize it. An insidious dynamic that I hope we can destroy. But that’s unrelated to the idea that there are two types of content: content that is intended to be part of a conversation and therefore loses its value as it ages and therefore should be displayed in reverse chronological order vs content that is intended to be durable, content that does not automatically lose its value just bc it’s 5 minutes old.