Nostr Web Client

Why use Paid Relays?

Traditionally content has been put behind paywalls that users must pay to enter. Access was gated by centralised servers whether that be the host of the content, the payment processors, or the discovery of content, as this has always been the layer controlling your identity.

Nostr flips this model on its head by decoupling identity from service. By paying a relay operator for access you are putting your identity behind a paywall such that for others to interact with you, they too must pay the entry fee if they want their content visible to you.

https://relay.exchange/why-pay-2-relay/

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Discussion

𝖋𝖎𝖆𝖙𝖉𝖊𝖓𝖎𝖊𝖗 (¯`◕‿◕´¯) 2y ago

That’s not entirely true. You can still see contents posted to paid relays for free

Smith 2y ago

Yes but you must be a paid up member on the relay to post there so on that relay you only see members posts so less likely to see spam from that relay

Pierre 2y ago

Actually, I just posted the same question before seeing this.

Isn’t it unrealistic at this point to join only paid relays? People won’t find you, limited audience, etc.

And if you still have to join free relays you’ll still be subjected to spam? Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of joining paid relays in the first place?

Smith 2y ago

The way most of the relays are doing it you are right. If you just have few paid relays you will only see what others on that relay post and they will only see what you post so is far from ideal.

What you will start see is relays providing other services like aggregating content from many relays and posting your content to many relays also.

Nostr.wine is already doing this and how they aggregating data into your feed is very clever.

https://nostr-wine.github.io/filter-relay/

Smith 2y ago

Good diagram and it shows how complicated the relay problem is, nobody has a real solution for it yet.

I do think the solution will be relays providing additional services like I mentioned in a previous post

#[4]

Creediator 2y ago

I have been trying to explain this unsuccessfully for sometime to other folks but this is good. I would recommend the npub to be a user friendly id (ln.tips or getalby.com usernames) stead of npub key as a filter parameter. I see a future where people will start moving from one npub to another as they compromise their keys.

Smith 2y ago

I know what you’re says but I think you need to use your public key as that is unique and will last forever. You can’t rely on 3rd party services like getalby.com to look after your identity as they could get compromised or disappear at any time.

I can’t remember what it called but I’m sure someone has proposed using a special type of private key that you would never use and just keep it safe. From that seed you would generate other keys that you would use day to day.

If you loose a key you could use the main seed to generate a new key and prove it was from the same seed, proving it is still you.

Sounds like a clever idea to solve the problem you mentioned because you’re right, people will loose or just compromise their private keys!

JCT 2y ago

It’s NIP-26 or Delegated event signing.

Smith 2y ago

That's it, thanks

natoshi 2y ago

I’m using paid relays and free relays. By using free ones, am I essentially removing the paywall offered by the paid relays?

Smith 2y ago

Free relays allow everyone to send and read events. Usually paid relays allow everyone to read but only paid members can send events. The main reason for this is to stop spam.

Having free and paid relays is normal and as more clients add more control over what relays send and what receive you will be able to decide which relays are for sending and which are for receiving. I'm using @Amethyst and it let's me do this now

dr.fred 2y ago

how sustainable is that model?

Smith 2y ago

Paid relays? The way I see it, paying relays is the only logical thing to do. It follows the Value for Value model and is better that Ads where you are the product but get the service for free.

https://value4value.info/