It seems a bit odd - pubkey or whatever it's called clearly isn't designed as a socially connected alternative to the normal Web like nostr is, or people like John would shut up and not put people off of trying it. Therefore if it's not a competing protocol he has no reason for any weird animosity. I might look at what he's working on eventually, just to figure out what it's meant to be, but he certainly isn't a very good advocate for it.