Subnostr

Don't let purity tests about where your income is coming from blind you to the risks of only having one potential customer and the necessity of growing the customer base beyond Bitcoin Twitter.

Laeserin 1y ago

Nobody ever seems to think about the mid-term and long-term personal and financial costs/risks to the devs. They are currently very high. Telling everyone to quit their day job and work for OpenSats reduces the appeal of Nostr to potential devs because it subtley tells them that the stuff they build will find no broader market, so they need charity. This is not true!

There aren't enough _different_ paying customers and _different_ income streams and income types. The user base is too myopic. Bounties aren't transparent enough or well-structured. There is often only one type of money or payment rail accepted, creating immediate friction for the sale.

Devs need to learn to think of themselves like business people. The market isn't efficient. We need to make a better market. We need to grow the market.

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Discussion

Laeserin 1y ago

Please also note that OpenSats is primarily a Bitcoin fund. That is why they have "Satoshi" right in their name.

They are not a Nostr-first fund. Nostr is their pet-project to expand Bitcoin usage as a currency. I support that goal, but not everyone does and that shouldn't be the only reason Nostr exists.

Laeserin 1y ago

This is having a limiting effect on what is being built, the pressure to follow and respond to their npubs is immense (this is a form of advertising), and the prominence of their various npubs in the feed might be scaring off a wider customer base.

It is bizarre that a Bitcoin fund should be one of the most-popular accounts in the social media feed. They show up and announce grants and everyone acts like it's the Second Coming of Jesus.

Laeserin 1y ago

Every dev who is not taking money from them feels like they have to justify their stance, or like they are being antisocial and defiant, when

NOT TAKING A GRANT SHOULD NOT BE WEIRD.

ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴇᴀᴛʜ ᴏꜰ ᴍʟᴇᴋᴜ 1y ago

it's a hard road but if you can't get to MVP on your own money you probably can't get to market either

stack harder

Laeserin 1y ago

Capitalism is supposed to be hard. 🤷‍♀️ You're supposed to have to hustle and bust your ass and take strategic risks.

ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴇᴀᴛʜ ᴏꜰ ᴍʟᴇᴋᴜ 1y ago

having said that, taking VC money to build goal-adjacent things is a strategy i'm employing

gonna be nice when i get to launching something, it's a really good time for it i think, stack sats, ride the elevator, finish the last, hardest 10%, roll it out, spend the money on getting the marketing out and gathering a small team to maintain and support the product

soon :trademark:

Laeserin 1y ago

I was more critical about the various income sources before, but I now see the benefit of tying as many different income sources into the protocol, as possible. Users follow the income streams.

The protocol wants to be the new Internet, so it needs to be for everyone. It needs to be an agnostic protocol, to be a universal protocol.

Laeserin 1y ago

I also just no longer care if someone builds something I wouldn't build. I don't even know who is building what, anymore, and I'm not their mama.

I'm cheering everyone who brings in new customers who aren't just here to follow Jack, Odell, and Lyn.

ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴇᴀᴛʜ ᴏꜰ ᴍʟᴇᴋᴜ 1y ago

yeah, and the chorus of "" like the disposable keys that is the song of the day

sing songs to the Lord not men (and women) lol

"i am an NPC and here's proof: i support the current thing from . beep, boop"

what do you call this choir? influenceees? gullible? credulous?

Laeserin 1y ago

Yeah, turns the entire protocol into NPCs and Yes-Men.

ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴇᴀᴛʜ ᴏꜰ ᴍʟᴇᴋᴜ 1y ago

there is something about idolatry that is baked into the human brain i think

few don't have it naturally, and if we aren't in charge everything goes to hell little by little

the Bible is replete with examples of this over and over and over and over and over and over and over

well, this is the mess we are embedded in, gotta make our own way because we don't follow others

🇵🇸 whoever loves Digit 1y ago

People on Bluesky need to be told this.

Someone seriously needs to go on Bluesky and go around saying "hey you know nostr is actually decentralized and we need people with interests other than bitcoin to offset the money from the OpenSats bitcoin fund sucking up all the air"

I'm so right about how useful this would be for the human race's network effect, you have no idea. But I'm banned from Bluesky because the deep state knows what my instincts can do with network effect. Catch 22

unknown 1y ago

nobody cares about nostr and the devs designed the backends and frontends poorly

🇵🇸 whoever loves Digit 1y ago

When I was on Bluesky the responses I got from people about nostr were that they weren't interested in it because it seemed like a thing for Bitcoiners and right-wing Nazis.

Such stupidity is enraging, and I never thought of "this is because of a fund called OpenSats and your backup is needed" as a psychological response.

unknown 1y ago

most people want centralized safe speech social media. nostr just dont understand that it will always cater to a niche set if people . its normal.

🇵🇸 whoever loves Digit 1y ago

What's your point? I never said I care what the meat wants.

unknown 1y ago

my point is thst nostr will never get mass adoption and will be below mastodon

🇵🇸 whoever loves Digit 1y ago

How did you pick me as the guy to share this fantasy with?