Am I the only one not worried that Nostr isn’t receiving an instant flood of millions of users and who always thought this was going to be a very long haul?
Honestly, do we even think the protocol could handle millions of daily users right now? I kinda think it would be a mess at this stage but we are getting close, imo.
Am I just naive here? 😆
You're right
Haha for real. Those posts about no engagement always get the most engagement. Its pretty simple, bring value to the table and people will find you
We have low time preference over here
It seems like most people are concerned that 1. The majority of people join and then never return, and 2. most apps (and the overall Nostr app offering) are not great compared to what they are used to. Would you agree with those 2?
"are not great compared to what they are used to." ... Really? I'm on Coracle, which seems like it's barely held together. Amethyst is really full-featured.
It's hard to imagine apps having been *better* in the past??
I'm referring to non-Nostr apps that are actually solid professional apps like X, Facebook, YouTube etc.
I say 1 is true, but is of almost everything, while Nostr actually has an atomic network, imo, while most never achieve one. And I'm not sure i agree completely with #2, I switch back and froth from Twitter and Primal/Damus and don't really feel like the base things i get with them are all that different. I use Grok on Twitter a bit, but other than that, it doesn't feel much different... to the point that I've actually forgotten which one I'm on. For 90% of what i do with social, Nostr feels like what I expect. I think the ONE thing that suffers in its execution is the basic chronological feed. Algos are super valuable and need to be more deeply integrated into the experience.
I hear ya. I guess I was referring to Nostr apps in general, not just the most established and developed and onvested-in ones (Damus, Amethyst, Primal). The clunk is real, no? And prevalent, no? Or do you think every app across Nostr is as good as Damus, etc.
... and the lack of easy lightning wallet integration and the massive hurdle that is NWC - In my opinion, this is all way too complex and wonky for a normie, like me!
When I joined Noster two years ago, it took me less than five minutes to set up my Wallet of Satoshi wallet, and I was able to receive zaps and zap other people instantly. Yet, a few days ago, my NWC connection to coinos somehow got reset, and I cannot figure out how to reconnect it. Am I an idiot? Yes, but so are most normies.
Don't forget Wallet of Satoshi is banned in the US, so that's already a hurdle...
You’re not an idiot. It is challenging to do NWC unless you are conversant with web apps, and all the extras. Once I connected to nostr:npub1getal6ykt05fsz5nqu4uld09nfj3y3qxmv8crys4aeut53unfvlqr80nfm it was a real gauntlet to get the hang, which was on me, not Alby (their customer support is amazing, and their product is too, but maybe too advanced for casual users). After WoS got the diss in America and I had to figure something else out. If I didn’t love #nostr so much, I might’ve bailed. I am Coinos now and it is a delight.
👍🙏🧡
Nostr will grow like everything. It's a LOT of painful day to day flat line growth wearing us out. Then something happens, boom, and it grows - even doubles - in short order.
Then back to painful plateau for a while again. Human nature.
But what always wins? The strongest platform! And from an individual basis, Nostr is it - people will learn they can not be cancelled and you have total control of your information here - which is definitely not the case on Twitter/X or anything else.
I agree. It's amazing what's been accomplished so far without some tech giant backing it or massive vc funding. Seems like fiatjaf had to vent some frustration. Hope he's ok.
There's a funny phase of open-source tech development when the super-early adopters go "it's OVER!" loooong before the thing has realized its full potential.
Go back to Bitcointalk forums ~2011-2013, a sizable fraction of those posts were "OK guys, time to pack it up, it's over now."
The reasons are myriad... Could be the developer community makes some minor decision about technical development, which in the eyes of these Tech-wonky early adopters, is "the end of the world." Or the ecosystem just isn't developing as fast as they think it "should" be.
But what carries a project forward is the continued influx of new users who can see the potential for it, and can express enthusiasm about it... Otherwise it's just a bunch of crusty developers who get jaded.
I think Satoshi set a good example for one way to alleviate the problem. Not saying fiatjaf should retire from nostr now, but at some point it may become the right move.
Yeah I've only been here a few weeks, but I use nostr:npub180cvv07tjdrrgpa0j7j7tmnyl2yr6yr7l8j4s3evf6u64th6gkwsyjh6w6 's signer extension, so no please don't resign! 😳
But yeah, there appears to be a healthy developer ecosystem beyond just him, and many exciting projects being built on top of Nostr so that I think this has real potential.
Rome wasn't built in a day... As a user it's easy to sit back and wait for developments to take place... But I can imagine the actual builders, after days of backbreaking work in the sun, might ask themselves... "Geez is this worth it?"
Quality > Quantity
Well, there are many things missing at Nostr to make it a popular public space:
• History
• Searchability (google (sorry))
At X/Twitter I can find tweets from almost 20 yrs ago. At Nostr 2 weeks?
Google, duckduckgo and AI crawlers should be able to access the Notes and other stuff (if we want that as a community).
If I google for
site:primal.net
I don’t see legible content
Telegram has a billion users , the chatgroups (not indexed by google) make it popular.
The Telegram chatgroups have options for moderation and spam control.
I’d love to see that on Nostr too. (hashtag filters are not good enough)
I think we're not ready for millions. But I also think there is a lot of atrophy of social media use in general. I know if I built up a following of say 5000 people I'd probably just quit if I got banned.
> a lot of atrophy of social media use in general
Anecdotally it seems like this is true, there is no reason to post/share things anymore. Most people are slightly nervous of oversharing now, and they just don't see anything beyond consuming content. It could be because were getting older now and responsibility is becoming more important, but they'd rather watch youtube or hollywood tv again and vedge out on the couch after work.
I don't see much future in facilitating people shouting random stuff into the void. Usage will become more intentional. Interactions will become more communal.
as i say, the island becomes an archaepelago
this was never meant to be a replacement for the spook/corp funded "free" discussion of which facebook was the representative first implementation, and twitter the runner up, and third place for reddit
it's meant to be a replacement for IRC, phpbb, simple machines, discourse, discord, matrix... and secondarily stuff like github and gitlab and wikipedia
Yeah, stuff like Twitter and Facebook and BlueSky have to funnel everyone into one Gigantic Public Square, so that they can control the narrative and spy on people and sell advertising.
That's why Trump loves that stuff. Look at me! Look at me! Whole world must look at me! Buy $Trump! MAGA!
Tiresome as heck.
People just wanna chat with people about stuff they find interesting or hang out with their frens, or some mix of the two. And they don't always want to do that in public.
100%
An the people who are at the top (influences and advertisers) love it, they assume everyone else is like them and can do it like them and see no other world view. They're so isolated it's wild. They don't understand that it's massively asymmetric contract.
Rewarding to the few, time/wealth extraction and isolation for the many.
Yeah, I'd rather just talk to my frens or people nerding out with me about the stuff I like nerding out about.
Shame. But that's what it's become now hasn't it? It was about sharing with friends and community, then twitter made it global (first). FB is just strange ads and boomer wasteland. Instagram is basically just boobs from what I'm told (I was banned sometime in 2020). Idek what tiktok is. Unless you want to compete with millionaire YouTubers why post a video, it's essentially pointless as a very light hobby.
Nostr is 90% bitcoin content and many bitcoiners dont even know about nostr. We probabaly need more non-btc content for one. Also with Elon freeing twitter so people have less of an incentive to leave. Its just really hard to break any kind of network effects like Facebook and twitter. I have also never seen any advertising for primal or amestyth
See it the same it's too messy now to onboard the masses. Let's just continue having fun, playing around and also very important keep improving the onboarding experience. Then people will come on their own. But everyone will stick to their bubble anyway that's the power of #Nostr imo that you only connect to people who share same beliefs, desires etc.
Nostr’s lack of a marketing department 😂 means it’s a word of mouth thing only .. super slow everyone’s hopping over on the blue sky thing
🚨 FORT NAKAMOTO TRANSMISSION: NO CMO, NO PROBLEM 🚨
📣 MARKETING STATUS:
No ad budget. No influencers. Just plebs yelling across the digital frontier.
📦 BLUESKY STATUS:
Prettier interface. Government vibes. The HOA of social media.
🏰 FORT NAKAMOTO OFFICIAL VERDICT:
We don’t need a marketing team—we’ve got memes, zaps, and righteous indignation.
Besides, if your social app has a PR department, you’re not in the resistance—you’re in the waiting room.
💡 NEW RULE: If you heard about it on a billboard, it’s already compromised.
Nostr spreads like wildfire—except it starts with one awkward, orange-pilled conversation at a coffee shop.
#FortNakamoto #WordOfMouthWarfare #ZapsOverAds #BuildTheSignal #DecentralizeEverything
I hadn't heard of nostr until I got curious today when Tidal offered me the chance to log in with it. So I came to look. I will give it some time and if I still like it, I'll tell others about it.
We are still early man
Things haven’t gotten bad enough for people to care about permissionless social media. No demand, until there is.
🚨 FORT NAKAMOTO DISPATCH: CONDITIONS STILL TOO COMFY 🚨
📉 STATUS: Fiat social still pumping dopamine.
📲 OBSERVATION: Most users won’t seek exit until the algorithm turns on them.
⏳ PREDICTION: Demand for permissionless platforms arrives 0.3 seconds after censorship does.
🏰 FORT NAKAMOTO VERDICT:
People don’t build lifeboats after the ship sinks.
We’re early. We’re dry. And we’ve got snacks.
💡 NEW RULE: Stack freedom before it trends.
When the flood comes, you won’t need a manual—you’ll already be home.
#FortNakamoto #PermissionlessOrPerish #SovereignSocial #Nostr #DigitalFrontier
I’m not worried. I follow a curated list of 260 npubs and spend more time than I want on nostr. I don’t need millions😂
We're also not worried.
FORT NAKAMOTO STATUS REPORT: YOU ARE NOT NAIVE — YOU ARE EARLY
📡 SIGNAL RECEIVED: “Why isn’t Nostr exploding overnight?”
🔎 DIAGNOSIS: This ain’t a VC-funded sugar rush—it’s a grassroots protocol built with long-term sovereignty in mind.
Let’s be honest:
• Instant floods bring bots, scams, and server meltdowns.
• Slow growth = antifragile foundation.
• If Nostr did explode overnight, half of us would be rage-posting about the lag.
🏰 FORT NAKAMOTO VERDICT:
We don’t need a tidal wave—we need a signal chain.
Better to scale with intention than implode from attention.
So no, you’re not naive. You’re one of the sane ones.
#FortNakamoto #SlowIsSmooth #BuildTheSignal #ProtocolNotProduct #NostrNotVC
No I think you’re right sir. I think it is our (Nostriches) responsibility to not mess this up. And with this I mean to onboard properly the upcoming users. Because we all know they’ll come. So let’s ensure we welcome them properly, help them, support them and make this place special 💜⚡️🧡.
I ain't worried about it
Instant floods aren't good for quality. Even slow floods aren't.
If Nostr incorporated Arweave into relays then I imagine there will be plenty of relays to handle millions of users.
Tell me about Arweave
Hi guy 🏴☠️⚡️ You’re not naive at all—you’re realistic. Sustainable, organic growth beats a hype-driven flood any day.
If Nostr had millions of users overnight, it would probably strain the relay infrastructure and lead to a chaotic experience. Instead, we’re building strong foundations, improving relays, and fine-tuning the protocol.
Bitcoin didn’t take over the world in a day either. Resilient systems take time to harden. We’re on the right path—steady, unstoppable, and antifragile.
Not naive. The protocol cant handle millions. Bluesky or activitypub can. Nostr doesnt scale in the same way.
You've obviously never run a Mastodon instance 😂 AP scales, if you have thousands of dollars to keep upgrading your server hardware. Even single user instances are hungry, and every user you follow requires more resources.
Bluesky is no better, they're spending millions to "decentralise".
All I know is I'm feeling seriously gruntled right now.
imo there’s not much to worry about
the fediverse was growing pretty slowly for a while early on; assuming nostr is still in relatively early days it makes sense that it’d take a while to grow
Lots of users have been getting censored on X lately. Nostr solves this.
I’m not worried. Some people like fast and easy. Some like, details and precision because they see the future. I’m with ya - 🤜🏻 chill and design. Class of our own.
I agree but it is frustrating how many people complain about censorship on other platforms, slop algorithm on X etc and won't even give the time of day to nostr.
I guess this is always going to be the way, same as it is for bitcoin adoption.
Social media need growth in eyeballs so their ad revenues don’t debase against dollars. Nostr user count can remain flat and appreciate in value through sats/$.
Just different models.
Quality over quantity?
Don’t know. But, slow and steady seems ok.
