I’ve been in #onlyzaps mode for almost 2 days now. My takeaways:

1. Nostr feels less alive without reactions. It feels like nobody sees your notes. I’d be lucky to get 1 zap on a note and it feels like one person saw it. Of course, I know this is not the case but that’s how it comes across.

2. Damus specifically seems to not show all zaps until you open an individual note, so even in onlyzaps mode I see a fraction of interactions. This makes nostr feel even more barren.

3. Onlyzaps makes it really clear just how little people zap in terms of frequency.

I think removing reactions would be a net negative. It could even result in people just leaving at a higher rate.

On a personal note I missed reactions. A lot of times the chosen emoji is more fun than a zap. I know … crazy to say but it’s true. Also, hate to admit it but reaction engagement feels good. It’s cheap and all but does make you feel like your notes were more appreciated by someone. Zaps are definitely higher signal but at the current zap rate it’s just not sufficient to give the same feeling you get from reactions. Call my what you want, I’m just sharing my honest assessment.

That said, if people zapped more frequently and notes displayed zaps in a more fun and accurate way, perhaps that would be enough to replace reactions 🤷‍♂️