So there is a NIP63 now, that is called ''Relay-based Paywalls'', but should be called Relay-based access control or something like that. Doesn't really matter, the point is this:

A creator has 'premium' content, i.e. content that for some reason should only be provided to particular people. The creator gives a list of these people to a relay, and then the relay is supposed to enforce this. There is room for a little bit more complexity to allow for more fancy situations, but this is the basic premise. I would like to briefly explain the reasoning behind this set-up.

First lets point out that the system is agnostic towards the reason someone is one the 'premium-list', as the name of the NIP suggests it could be a 'pay-wall', but it is up to the content creator to figure out why and how people get on that list. It could be because he got paid (in zaps, or via creditcard or gold coins), or because people publicly follow the creator, or because people pinned a post expressing their eternal devotion, love and praise to the glory of the content creator; it does not matter, as long as the content creator is compelled to put you on the list.

This puts responsibility on the content creator to figure out the logistics of maintaining this list, which could be a bot they run themselves, or some service provider that helps them do it. Assuming there will be more than 1 relay supporting this NIP, the content creator has the 'same'(albeit in theory a bit more limited) flexibility in terms of using redundant relays and switching when needed.

The whole point of the system is to make it such that the experience and flow on the side of the audience is as smooth as possible. From their perspective, they just follow the content creator and get the 'free' content, up until the point they performed the required action to be put on the list, after which they now magically also get the 'premium' content; this works for any client, any kind for as long as they remain on the premium-list. Other than being not completely retarded in handling AUTH procedures irt the relay, which should not be the case to begin with, the client-software needs nothing special for this to work.

When i say that the experience and flow on the side of the audience is as smooth as possible, i don't mean just in a Nostr context, i mean in general. I can't think of any possible scenario which is better; regardless what app you use, or decide to use later and regardless the purpose of these apps, it works. RSS based podcasting can't do this, nothing can.

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