My initial impression is that the community pushes it. Maybe I'm not following the right people or something, but having had to learn about nostr, I've had to watch videos and tutorials to learn how to start using it. I guess the lightning thing is pretty strongly tied into this nostr thing, because it keeps popping up. I've had to learn about lightning wallets, and zaps, and sats, and apparently it relates to bitcoin.. all these things I've never needed to know about before. All I want to do is post my content and find content that I like, and I'm still unsure how to do that.. I'm instead being indoctrinated into some sort of bitcoin thing where transactions take center stage.. I'm seeing many posts about bitcoin on the feeds.. or relays or whatever they are. It's not a great way to be introduced to a platform that is suppose to rival or replace twitter or other social media, in my opinion.. You need better on-ramps to this, that remove all the esoteric crypto jargon, but primarily, I need to be able to get to the actual content I want to see, otherwise I just get stuck talking to you guys :)
Discussion
Your sentiment is shared by a lot of people. Nostr began its initial adoption from the Bitcoin community leaving Twitter to use nostr. So naturally there’s a huge amount of Bitcoin enthusiasm here and people are focused on zaps and heavy Bitcoin integration. Nostr is much bigger than a bitcoin community but it will be some time before that’s realized. I wouldn’t focus on the monetization you’re seeing, it’s not the point it’s just a feature.
I think you need to add some paid relays and start exploring all of the facets of what nostr has to offer.
I would also like to add that when someone offers you a zap, it is them welcoming you to the community. I do not believe anyone is attempting to indoctrinate you. It’s a big deal for a bitcoiner to send sats, and it’s our way of showing you respect and opening the door to what nostr has to offer. We are excited for what this platform has to offer and there is a lot of passionate people here, but that passion does is not limited to bitcoin. There are poets, writers, musicians, philosophers, and technologists.
You don’t need to use bitcoin, like it, or even want to learn about it. Here you can say and be whatever you want. There are no limits. Give it a chance and you will be amazed at what it has to offer.
You need to look for content, explore, look at follow lists, and engage in conversations. The content will not magically just come to you. You are in charge and in control. If you create good content, people will follow you, engage with you, and challenge you. This is the beauty of this protocol. You have to build the experiences you want to have.
I joined NOSTR for the value-for-value idea. I would rather show a content creator I appreciate their content with a zap of anywhere from a couple pennies, to thousands of dollars. I don’t want to pay a third party, or have the creator pay a cut to a platform or other entity. I give them something of value (Satoshis) for their content which I have found value in, be it art, snark, prose, or story.
I want to be rewarded for my content… not the platform selling advertisements off my content. I want to share the value I find in other’s content.
But that doesn’t mean you have to. Social media is what you make it, and the avenues you choose to participate in.
I choose to step outside of the wall gardens, with the iron fences, gatekeepers, and censors.
I choose Freedom over algorithms anyway.