Yes, nostr uses relays, which are largely a commodity. So instance admins cant effectively ban a user.
Yes, I am familiar now with Mastodon and getting more familiar with the working of nostr. I am trying to understand how things work before reading the protocol...
I guess my main question is: does #nostr help avoid the problem of the weak instance admin and the pressure of de federation that I described in the initial #W3C TAG email?
https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-tag/2023Jul/0011.html
Btw. Higher-ups at W3C told me I was not to discuss that e-mail anywhere on W3C (ie not even on Mastodon)!! So sorry if I can't respond to your comments there.
Discussion
Ok, that makes sense. You wrote in your response on the #W3C mailing list
https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-tag/2023Jul/0012.html
> However, you are co-owning your identity with your provider, and in
fact, the provider has more ownership of your identity than you do.
#Mastodon has this issue, and so does #SolidProject.
Well, it is much easier in Solid to have your own WebID profile: that is just a resource on a normal web server.
What you really need to be autonomous is what Eben Moglen called 12 years ago the #FreedomBox.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgu8NUm5Zxk
The FB just needs a Solid Web Server to be complete.
I have heard of folks such as #RedHat evangelist Jan Wildeboer, installing their own Mastodon Server, but I remember them saying it is very expensive in resources. And for some reason, with Mastodon one has to federate, and the pressure of defederation is being used to create a political unique thought.
In the blogosphere there was no need for an intermediary. Perhaps the #tag feature needs a decentralised search engine?