The digital world has shifted from protocols to platforms and back over the last 30 years. We’re in a transition back to protocols. We will
probably make the same mistake again and move back to platforms in a decade or so. Platforms are easier to build and monetize so the tendency will always be there. Every single platform today is just another attempt to be the next AOL.
You deal realize that Nostr will never get normies right? This is too complicated for them. If normies hated Mastodon and the Fedivserse, which provide a better user experience than Nostr, this is doomed to be a small niche community despite the tech being interesting and better
I remember when call waiting on POTS was too complicated. Everything is too complicated for normies in the beginning. As adoption grows, simplicity follows. Look at the old Treo phones vs the iPhone today.
In the computer world, hard to use tech usually does not win. Seen it happen over and over on Fedi as Boomers and Twitter normies invaded the platform. All this crypto talk will also make people leave. Normies don't care about zaps
I agree on your first point but technology has historically gotten easier to use over time. Why would this be any different?
The concept of relays, keys, federation is hard concepts for tech-novices. Seen it happen a lot
The interwebs was much harder to navigate mid-90’s. People are smarter than you think. Also Clients will hide most complexities.
So is IMAP and SMTP. Billions of devices around the world can send email on an open protocol at the speed of light for free.
I guess I don’t even get what you’re arguing here
You said Mastodon is better - How?
You seem to be arguing for platforms like Twitter and Facebook because of ease of use. Not sure how long you’ve been using technology, but Facebook was not very easy to use when it launch. Things evolve.
>So is IMAP and SMTP. Billions of devices around the world can send email > on an open protocol at the speed of light for free.
It's easy to understand: person@company.com
> You said Mastodon is better - How?
1. Better federation and User Discovery. No need to add relays.
2. Moderation and Management Tools
3. Better web interface with many more features like reacts, custom emojis, quote posts
4. Millions of diverse users, not just crypto bros
Try it: https://poster.place
>You seem to be arguing for platforms like Twitter and Facebook because of > ease of use. Not sure how long you’ve been using technology, but Facebook > was not very easy to use when it launch. Things evolve
I am 38 and worked for a few Silicon Valley Startups. I am a Linux nerd and worked in Tech Marketing. Boomers were even able to use Twitter and Facebook since it's inception. I Hate Facebook and Twitter but they have a better user experience like Mastodon/Fediverse/Gab. You start talking about decentralization ,relays, keys, zaps and you will loose them.
I disagree that it has better federation and I think if someone like bot can learn to manage her keys then pretty much anyone can. It’s no different than a password. Nostr has a slightly less traditional model but it’s not particularly difficult, or I wouldn’t be using it.
THis is how federation works on Fedi:
1. STart out with nothing on your feed.
2. Add some known relays or users, posts start coming up.
3. As soon as a user is found, it's added to the database and gets posts for the user.
4. The more users found, your network grows, your timeline gets busy
On Nostor, you have to figure out what relays to use and what user is on which relay. There is not learning of users on the entire network. No discovery
Most clients add relays by default that 90% of people are on. As for discovery, the only thing making it not work is spam. There needs to be some kind of starting point. This could be solved by promoting smaller relays somehow, and clients could show their local feed, not unlike the local timeline on Fedi.
Seems like Iris figured out spam somehow. I am on the damus relay too and don't see anything coming from it lol
read its specs and you'll understand what's "global" for iris. nostrgram also follows a similar approach
here: "Iris rejects all content from authors that your social network has not interacted with. You get way less spam, but the downside is that discovery of new users is more difficult, and sometimes you don't see all the messages that appear on other clients."
People here are very generous with follows and interactions though. Once you break through it’s cake.
Ah ty. So if normies interact with them, without realizing it is spam, everyone will be spammed?
Yeah, if all clients do what Iris does then discovery will basically be fixed overnight.
Yup. Do you know what they do exactly?
Basically they don’t show accounts on Global with no followers and that’s it. That alone fixes the spam lol.
You’re assuming the technology and tools don’t evolve and get better. The internet in the 90s was also tough to get online for many people. Dial up, CDs, non-intuitive browsers. Same could be said about BTC and purchasing/holding it.
Better social platforms already exist like Mastodon, for over 10 years. It had a chance to get many Twitter users and it failed becausae nobody liked it. How do you expect this to grow when better user-friendly platforms can't even attract normies.
PS I want Nostr to win of course, this is cool sht.
I’m very confused by your statement. If nobody liked it, why would you expect it to grow? There are also many projects that simply fail because the time wasn’t right or the masses weren’t ready for it. Electric cars were invented in the early 1900s, as an example.
> If nobody liked it, why would you expect it to grow?
Small niche communities are nice. That is what makes the Fediverse great. I am sure that you enjoy talking to people about zaps all day in your community. Putting everyone on a platform like Twitter is shouting out into the void and worshiping blue checkmark celebrities brought to you by the algorithm.
> There are also many projects that simply fail because the time wasn’t right or the masses weren’t ready for it
The problem with Niche communities or alternative technology is that they are hard to get people to try and stay. Nostr's learning curve is pretty high for normies compared to already proven alternative social media networks like Gab, Mastodon, Pleroma, Akkoma, Misskey.
