Nostr Web Client

nostr:npub180cvv07tjdrrgpa0j7j7tmnyl2yr6yr7l8j4s3evf6u64th6gkwsyjh6w6 I’m trying to understand the whole nostr protocol in depth (reading all the NIPs and reading the code for common open source clients and relays)

One thing I’m wondering is, at some point in the adoption curve of Nostr wont it be difficult to be subscribed to enough relays to know all the conversations that may mention you?

Especially if paid relays become the default (which makes sense), wont we have to subscribe to a large cross section to make sure we get alerted to all @ mentions?

PS if there are people to follow or podcasts / blogs that talk about Nostr at a technical level I’d love to do my own research, but I’m not sure where to go.

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Discussion

BitcoinBird 2y ago

Also interested in this. #remindme

Kekzploit 2y ago

I'm in the same boat, with the same questions! I feel at some point, relays may need to communicate with one another or somethin? whatever the case may be, Its the most optimistic/excited ive been about anything tech/social media wise in a while!

Greg 2y ago

Agreed, I love Nostr and all it represents. This may just be an inevitable trade off of a decentralised system. I’m not even sure if this is a problem (especially not yet) 😂

But I can imagine if relays start talking together, that may make it impossible to run a small relay (too much to store that’s possibly irrelevant to users that actually use that relay)

fiatjaf 2y ago

If you are only on Twitter and some people are talking about you on Facebook, do you get notified?

PABLOF7z 2y ago

If people want to notify you they’ll publish on your relays

Gossip

Kekzploit 2y ago

Right, this concept puts things into perspective!

Kekzploit 2y ago

Also upon further research, It looks as if, moving forward, NIPS-05 will provide a way for the relays at which users reside can be identified:

https://github.com/nostr-protocol/nips/blob/master/05.md

So perhaps some service around relay operators combining their data can be created or something to create a large directory of some sorts?

Greg 2y ago

Back before search engines people published physical magazines that had printed links to new or noteworthy websites.

These zines were usually themed (skateboarding, electronics, golf, etc)

I wonder if we need to do something similar now. Newsletters like “this week in Nostr” or “what’s new on golf Nostr” (if such a concentration exists for that community today)

Grassfed Guru 2y ago

There will probably be some.dominant relays which everyone subscribes to.

Greg 2y ago

Yeah that’s a tempting way to solve the problem but then you’re compromising on decentralization. I dunno if we can have our cake and eat it too on this one.

puddintaine2 2y ago

Many of my posts seem to disappear but then later some of them appear in my feed again. Same w/my followers list. And at first I thought they had stopped following me but then they’re back again. Still it’s concerning that it’s usually my comments concerning evil leftist trump that seem to have disappeared forever, but not my comments concerning evil leftist Biden. Am I being censored? Or is it just coincidence having to do with the way relays work? I don’t know. Would someone please explain?

coinbox 2y ago

I think you are right to point this out. I don't see how nostr is different to how the internet started out and has always been but not used. People have alsways been able to publish their words to their own website or to a forum run by a community in a decentralized or partially centralized way. Most just chose not to. Its just as easy to publish your own blog on substack as it is on Habla or write a post on twitter as it to a paid nostr relay. But the risks are still the same in the long term because the relays that are popular are likely to be funded and resourced like twitter or facebook servers are - by big corps. Of course we can use other nostr relays (most won't - that is a certainty) but only in so far as we could use any of the plethora of social media networks that have tried to be the next twitter but nobody ever does because well, nobody else is connected to them. Nostr relays will go the same route once (if) the network expands and we are all back to square one again. On top of all this relay owners will be subject to copyright laws, porn laws, DMCAs, and all other legal compliance laws that twitter has to, and only big corps will have the budget, lawyers and high tech needed to comply and keep their relays running. I hope I am wrong.

Greg 2y ago

I think we can have our cake and eat it too if

1. we make very robust open source relays that can have tools to automate that kind of work: DMCA takedowns, etc (if people want to comply with the law)

2. It’s easy to find and subscribe to many relays to cross pollinate widely enough that we don’t need central relays controlled by big players. Again requiring robust relays that are cheap to run and manage

That’s why I’m working on a relay discovery tool like Nostr.watch but with more of a community bent. I wanna see if I can convince relay operators to publish their community preferences and help people discover a couple dozen relays they should join.

But overall I think we just have to keep pushing for decentralisation and meet the challenges that incentivise centralisation as they come up

Greg 2y ago

After the relay explorer. I definitely wanna see if I can add “relay plugins” that people can install to do things like check against a series of public lists of spammers. Setting the ground work for a plug-in ecosystem for relays to allow us to work together to automate the work of complying with the laws where relays are hosted and keeping them cheap and easy to host.

I dunno how plausible it is, but I think that’s where I’ll put my effort.