The concentration of people from certain groups dominating the whole space is the issue.
Other platforms (e.g. X) have more people who talk about Gaza and COVID, so seeing them missing or drowned out here makes me suspicious of what's here
Discussion
I can appreciate that. It's a small community. There smaller the space, the more likely the participants align ideologically. Meanwhile x is algorithmic so fear porn, fud, tragedy, all follow the same formulas of mainstream media-the worse it is the more people tune in, the more money the horse spits out.
Which is why I say, part of what you're perceiving might just be a second order effect of not having an algorithm.
Good point. However, zaps replace the algorithms as a source of centralized bias in my view
I would disagree, I'm sure there is a way to modify a feed (knowing not shit about programming, I assume it's possible) to prioritize high zap content but my feed is purely chronological.
If you mean higher engagement acts as a feedback to spur more engagement, that sounds more like human interaction more than a mechanism of the software. Kinda like cities have more work, causing more people to move there, causing more to be built, causing more work.
It looks very organic to me, despite the fact that I could definitely be wrong. Nostr could be a KGB psyop for all I know.
I see some layers to it in my view:
- nostr's lightning bias pushing away users of other cryptocurrencies while the wider Bitcoin bias pushes away dollarbrains, concentrating a certain group of people here
- feeds that boost zapped content
- people who give follows, likes, replies, and reposts to high zap amount npubs, hoping for zaps
- villains who use zaps to promote their own unfair bias willingly
- paid relays and other spam suppression methods that unfairly benefit lightning users or those with more money in general
I mean. Bitcoin made cryptographic money possible first. It tracks to me that it would also make financially incentivized social media possible first. Seems more like a lack of say, xrp bros, who employ enough ambition to create such a space. But they could always copy the Bitcoin playbook and copy it's programs again 😆
The rest definitely happens or will. I don't pay for a thing tho and I get zero spam over here. I just block everything that doesn't seem legit. Haven't seen reply guy in ages for instance.
The people here should help promote those developments instead of competing against them.
According to fiatjaf, reply guy stopped on its own when whoever was doing it felt satisfied they had proven their point, it was never successfully stopped.