Paid relays to reduce spam

I’m new, but I found the verification part interesting. It’s nonobvious that you need to go to nostrverified.com to do it.

One detail that is almost a meme but really also not is that typos are forever and you will get called out.

Like if you type “sm” instead of “am”

😉 Just kidding around, Lyn. Keep up the great work.

Zapping, on Damus and Snort so far.. offering global, instant value-for-value between content creators, writers, anyone anywhere sharing thoughts, poetry, art, music, and those appreciating their offerings 🤙🧡💜

Micro payments using lighting netwok for content creators

Tips/Zap

Most important thing IMO for that audience:

1. Nostr is not a blockchain and has no native token. Many apps are integrating with lightning though.

2. Nostr has relays which are very different than bitcoin nodes. They operate as singular entities that track everything their asked to. No gossiping between them. Totally different topology from bitcoin.

3. Most applications look Twitter-like currently, but it’s an extremely generic protocol. Could support code repositories, private messaging (maybe), long form publishing etc…use cases in the future with other app development.

The interoperability of all the apps, the simplicity of the protocol, and the progression of NIPs

Keys are similar to BTC keys, in that few/no companies are currently popular to support account recovery.

Nostr is the intergalactic protocol to broadcast your messages when your spaceship breaks. It would go through private, public, mirror relays till a group or someone you intended to gets it. Just like enterprise first gen or the expanse. Only thing missing is going faster than light. Recorded this somewhere I can’t remember with Odell.

Checkout this convo too https://bitcoin.review/podcast/episode-18/

You own your identity through cryptography, there is no central ID authority.

You can connect and move between public and nonpublic networks by talking to different relays.

You could conceivably have a private company relay, a private family relay, and use the same ID to connect to them as you do to connect to the world.

Def how easy it is to build new tools and use cases on such a simple, permissionless protocol.

The proliferation of clients is just one example. Remarkable how all that dev talent is free to just innovate, rather than being bogged down by complexities you find in other systems. The ensuing explosion in features and rapid maturation has been incredible.

Generally the services around relays will be super interesting imo and microservice economy with lightning built in, especially for developing economies. I already beg #[2] to do inkpunk art for me for sats here on #nostr

The potential for major companies to pay sats immediately for an audience / followers is absolutely huge

I continue to be amazed by the difference between a protocol and a platform. With nostr, and bitcoin, the network effects exist at the protocol level with multiple platforms able to interface with it. So you get a composable architecture where platforms can improve and compete on a shared, open, persistent protocol. It’s what people get wrong in the “Bitcoin is MySpace” argument.

The obvious, but also subtle, differences in user behavior and content creation given the lack of algorithmic steering/manipulation. Combined with zaps, it’s a new animal in social media.

I'm sure you're on top of this but the quickest summary:

1. Not a blockchain (Bitcoin for payments is optional)

2. Own your identity and community. (public/private keys sign into any new Nostr based client or service that comes along and you bring in all your history and follows/ers )

3. Own your data. (Data is distributed among a number of relays that you trust, but its yours. Responsibility on you to back it up privately and to use relays that'll keep it available.)

4. Not just Twitter, but also basically any type of text based app we have today, just needs a client implementation for Nostr and all current apps can be replicated in Nostr. Discord (without voice), Reddit, Forums, comment sections on web pages, AOL chat rooms, anything, but it's all the same message content.

I think Marketing is a huge topic.

You can Advertise directly by zapping a content creator's Note.

don't generate your keys through a browser when you first start. choose a good client like iris and generate your keys with a browser extension like getalby.com which also integrates as a lightning wallet so you get the most out of the experience from the start.

I'm interested in the use cases beyond merely a Twitter clone (with native LN support of course).

But the point of an open messaging protocol means that you can build things that weren't previously possible in the old walled garden centralized paradigm.

Having no presence on Nostr is a bad bet. It is open source, has awesome developers, a built-in coin already with a functioning tipping economy and it will only get better from now on.

New apps are really easy to get traction because there is no sign up process for every app.

Spam is being decimated in some relays and there are already filters that work, and also serious machine learning bot developers who may give spam a harder time.

Another perspective: pace of developments because of background and passion of the people & community, open source etc. Imo important factor for the growth potential - who is driving the development?

Reviews. You can create review companies within Nostr.

Their business model is to give good advice on what to eat/do and verify by highest zap count.

This will also entice restaurant owners to zap as ad spend.

Better independent journalists.

Writers will be enticed to write objective truths.

Therefore creating better media/news outlets.

Notes become proof of work.

The best written notes become the highest paid ones.

Historical context…

Nostr is what Silicon Valley wanted Twitter to be. A fundamental protocol for the internet.

Here’s some vintage blogging on this idea.

http://paulgraham.com/twitter.html

Many apps had already started to use it for connectivity, but in the end Twitter failed to open up, even making the decision to shut down its API to competing client apps. Other attempts were made to replicate the Twitter as a protocol idea but did not succeed.

Nostr is everything that was wanted but more, with Bitcoin/LN having solved internet-native payments, a holy grail computer science breakthrough that was not available in 2006 when this stuff was being conceived.

Nostr is not a Twitter clone. It’s a base layer protocol where many types of apps with social behaviour can be built. Telegram, Facebook Groups, MetaMask-like web extensions for authentication and payments, and an ability for a user to be validated through a history of behaviour. And much more not yet conceived.

"other stuff" is a huge untapped market

#[2]

nostr is the dream of any developer and it is also the dream social interaction model for humans. it takes everything good we learned from the open source development of bitcoin and lightning and applies it to the missing piece, a simple system that is very unreliable by nature, it is the opposite of a blockchain, information is expected to maybe be incomplete, and that freedom to fail is where creativity is allowed to flourish. it will also introduce normal people to cryptography because of it's simple nsec/npub model. I'd say most bitcoiners are very affraid of messing with their coins so they don't touch it much, and because of that, they don't actually learn experience by doing. nostr will make interacting with keys familiar for everyone without the fear of loosing money.

Nostr is a WIP. As such:

1. Clients are in early stage, yet advance very fast.

2. A lot to be done on relays side.

3. Some use cases are not yet invented ('other staff' part of the name)

4. Search engines do not index nostr yet

Nostr is the first social media I've used, precisely because of how it works.

Nostr got me to set up a lightning wallet after hodling for years, and actually make transactions. Big for btc/ln adoption.

Public key = user name, private key = password

The game has changed. The model was to game the algorithm, build a following, sell your audience’s views and promote a product.

There is no algorithm anymore. People control their own feed following people who deliver value. Influencers can no longer count on their competitors being driven out because your number of likes keeps you on top of the feed. If they abuse their audience they will leave.

With direct bitcoin integration they have to keep delivering value or the money is cut off. They have to keep working now.

I think we are in the phase of running away from things like Twitter/Reddit to nostr, so the conversation is about that.

But it goes much broader than just social media. It’s a generalized protocol that enables many use cases, and I think the power of it comes in the ability to go from one use case, or client, to another, quickly and easily.

We haven’t seen much yet around this idea but we will.

I’m personally really hoping for a github replacement that Bitcoin core would feel safe using.

Like bitcoin, one of the best resources to understand NOSTR is just the original source - in this case the GitHub README.md. It does a great job of framing what it is, what it isn’t, and why it’s worth a shot from the protocol level and not the application level.

https://github.com/nostr-protocol/nostr#nostr---notes-and-other-stuff-transmitted-by-relays

How about the fact of a base number of users already using the protocol and that any new social app or platform have now two choices: start adding users from zero, or building over Nostr and have X millon users available from day one that just have to use their private key and access to their profile, relays, follows and followers.

- Open protocols don't die easily

- nostr can't go bankrupt

- All accounts already exist

- Social media is only the 1st use case

- It's an identity and reputation layer

- Many "stupid" things will run over nostr

- (Calendar sync, TODO apps, etc.)

- Private relays will be big

- Pay-to-write is not a paywall

- Paywalls (pay-to-read) = stupid

- NIP-07 kills usernames and passwords

- It will improve massively over time

- Time and attention are horrible graph currencies

- Sats fix this & enhance the social graph signal

- Special clients will replace whole networks

- Pivot to nostr or perish

Your data isn’t owned by a company, meaning the keys that are generated and used to sign events belong to you and you only. As opposed to twitter or instagram where your login details are stored on their servers and they can revoke your credentials at any time. Not your keys, not your data🤌🏼

Zaps — opt in micro payment for content you find valuable is something we are just scratching the surface of that is huge imo

There are already multiple strategies brewing that can handle spam really effectively. The beauty is that it's not responsibility of single company to figure out spam fighting, but rather it's a decentralized process.

Some anti-spam strategies on nostr:

- Users can sign in through paid relays, which discourages first wave of spammers

- Relays could be enforcing more spam prevention (e.g. when you post the same post with the same links too many time, you would have to pay the relay extra sats, otherwise it won't relay your post)

- If you see only posts from people you follow - boom no spam.

- Client apps do things like blur images in Global feed by default, let users select different relays for global feed, only show posts from follows of follows in global, etc

It's beautiful to see how having non-exclusive (non-KYC) global network to send sats around is making aligning incentives and implementing solutions just so much easier.

Mashup apps and mutations that go beyond current any of the current social platforms will be one of the most interesting developments. Instant audiences for those apps will provide incentive for an ecosystem to evolve.

News organizations and publishers can escape walled garden gatekeepers and make their content available independent of a specific platform app.

Independent creators have the potential to more easily monetize their content and engagement directly.

Your post is generating a lot of discussion.

Added to the https://member.cash/hot feed

It’s the best proven example of the Lightning Network as the engine of the creator economy. Its seamless integration into the Nostr protocol opens up entirely new ways for people anywhere in the world to share content and receive value in exchange for their work without a company or centralized payment system taking a cut.

Three #nostr strengths:

1. Individual empowerment: Control, choice & value4value

2. Removal of traditional barriers to innovation

3. Building of a personalized web of trust

nostr can do what web3/dapps were pretending to do, at scale, without the need for tokens, in an interoperable way.

https://seha.cc/unchaining-the-web/

Nostr is the Bitcoin ethos moving into general software projects. It highlights the absurdity of “crypto” even more so.

May u have a look at the articles from Shinobi over nostr.

https://bitcoinmagazine.com/authors/shinobi

That we're building a value for value Bitcoin based circular economy here.

How much value has been assigned to centralized big tech w/ understanding that they don’t have competition…that user data/engagement will rise forever, but Nostr not only competes but might just win, revaluation of big tech is needed

freedom is win win

That traditional Silicon Valley VC models won’t work here. Identifying 1 or 2 market winners early and pouring insane cash in to them to accelerate user growth is futile when you don’t have a walled garden to contain them and their cost of switching is basically free.

Also the userbase is monetisable from day dot which changes the incentives both for devs and users; no need to build something that makes money from 1M users when 100 could pay the bills.

That’s going to put off a lot of investors who were comfortable with that paradigm because all of the growth hacks become ineffective. Suddenly it’s a world of quality over quantity where the market decides what thrives rather than the VCs backing them.

Nostr is demonstrating, or reconfirming the _power of the protocol_.

How about the fact that joining nostr does not guarantee that someone can find you. Blocking people does not guarantee they can't stalk you.

Great to See you on nostr Lyn! Followed.

What we’ve learned over the past few years is that diversification of decentralized protocols creates a more secure world. Building a parallel economy to fiat with user-friendly, easy adoption interfaces is high priority. The ease of using Lightning on this platform, the paywithmoon.com ability to purchase Visa prepaid cards without KYC, is accelerating adoption. Peer-to-peer purchasing with lightning integration for web vendors...

#[2] posted this on Twitter a few days ago.

Once a developer working on a Nostr app told me the best thing about Nostr was that all the developers who once wished to write social networking but were unable to -- because they would never get enough network-effect for their apps to become mildly useful -- now could.

From purely utilitarian perspective, it is not like twitter (although it can be) , it is more of an instant global payment system with no middle-man. That's very refreshing IMO. A tool that promotes self-custody and financial responsibility, sine "you are the bank". Can't be stopped, blocked or censored, that's good enough for me :-)

Would #[2] be mentioned in that article? People are wondering 😊

it's too early to conclude Nostr's applications today because they are all at nausual stage to serve as Twitter knockoff, notwithstanding it's the protocol itself fully potential to be a layer of future stack. It can be used perfectly as a global sensing system to support economy or disaster alerting.

It will be interesting to see the usage per country top 10 or 20 idk if this info is available at all. I read the private report yesterday and it was very well put together.

a smoothie-like hipster protocol for "replacing" Twitter and creating a corporate analogue of Twitter with the ability to connect multiple corporations. The main thing is the ease of using Open Source, geo-distribution of nodes and, like the cherry on the cake, easy payment in cryptocurrencies.

The low cost for anyone to run a relay using Umbrel is powerful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjNa1MKvdrs

Private relays, and selectable relay-sets, will be nice, so I can swim with the Reddit-like masses if I want, or I can pare back to a smaller universe with higher signal in both posts and replies

A few points:

Social networks is but one application of nostr.

——-

Applications transcend their domain: a social network app transparently / effortlessly moonlights as a marketplace app, a chat app, and anything in Nostr.

——

Current implementations are all encumbered by the lack of smart relay traversal / there’s another 10-fold level of innovation waiting to be unlocked by better relay traversal algorithms.

Allow me to put my marketing wizard's hat on:

NOSTR does not suppress posts that link externally.

Your audience might appreciate you highlighting that if they are looking to build an audience, NOSTR is more valuable than Twitter if your goal is to then use this as a top of funnel to drive attention to an external source.

You can probably get orders of magnitude more eye balls and click throughs on your external links here than on Twitter with the same sized audience.

Possibly dive briefly into how relays work/ purpose of them.

That you can see the nostr world through someone elses eyes by using their public key

#[0]

#[0]

#[0]

Internet protocol connects machines and leads to the unprecedented continuous optimization of what is achievable by machine cooperation.

Nostr protocol connects people and can lead to the unprecedented continuous optimization of what is achievable by human cooperation.

Imagine that!

The message is the medium. Even in its twitter-clone phase, the fundamental nature of the open nostr protocol shapes the messages being relayed in a way that feels far more organic than the synthetic discourse across the captured legacy social platforms, that have twisted and distorted incentive models for user engagement.

Lyn, maybe you could point Android users to good client apps. I am finding Amethyst unusable. It's only since I discovered Iris that I can use Nostr on my PC, as astral and Anigma don't seem to work for me. Just a thought.

Running 🏃 Nostr 🟣 is 🚀 my patience 🧘 and ability to think 💭 which is crazy 🤯.

Most will probably start with damus. And most people equate tech with the UI front end. But nostr, given its ethos and the fluidity of development in clients, is a good reminder that layers and protocols are where the magic happens. The UI is secondary if the thing is to last.

It strikes me as a bit of an internet time machine, warts and all (like difficulty of use, uptime). After a burst of open, interoperable protocols in the early days of the internet, we've been living through a 25+ year period of proprietary user interface and tech, the goal being to keep eyeballs on your site to sell ads. This is like going back a few decades to watch the development of a basic internet standard, designed to be interoperable, designed to be open, designed to scale to do who knows what.

did you publish this article Lyn?