A brief rant about people confusing an protocol with a corporate social media platform.

Blaming a protocol for a user’s speech is like blaming the dictionary for an article or book you don’t like. Nostr is a simple protocol. Developers and users may have a certain idealized purpose in mind, but it isn’t a magical solution for the bad behavior on other social media platforms in and of itself.

Developers and operators of clients/relays that make use the protocol will shape what is possible. User behavior sets the tone of the community and that has nothing to do with the protocol.

Free and open communication on public Nostr relays means that a person can expect just about anything. Just like a person can get on a soapbox in Central Park or Pier 39 and rant about whatever. That’s censorship-resistance.

It doesn’t mean everyone has to be forced to listen or engage with content they find objectionable. That’s where open write/open read, private write/open read, and private write / private read will come in. Along with private relays will come moderation. It is inevitable if people want to enjoy themselves without being subjected to trolls and spam.

The difference with Nostr is that you can, for the most part, keep your social graph and post your content on another relay. You can also setup your own relay if everyone is truly not allowing your speech. That’s it. That’s what censorship-resistant means (to me anyway). You can write a note, but you can’t force a relay operator to publish it, and you can’t force other users to read or engage with it.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯