Nostr Web Client

Is it just me, or does it seem like everyone is super reluctant to monetize services and relays on #Nostr?

If we can’t make these things sustainable then we will either lose them, or they will stay nothing more than a weird little corner of the internet with lots of hope but no chance of ever scaling.

I still haven’t seen the basic model of zap sharing tried by any major client or relay. But I DO see regularly comments about how expensive relays are. I mean it might not work, but can’t we TRY it?

I want to make the distinction here too that this doesn’t mean we are closing off the network, we are adding permissions to the protocol, this doesn’t suggest at all to used closed source code, we simply need the services necessary to keep this ecosystem robust, to be profitable and have the resources to thrive. If they aren’t, then NONE of this works. Economics is everything.

I know building features is more exciting. I know we all want to make everything that we can free, and I agree all of the *code* should be shared. However, I think there is a natural insecurity (and I say this because I have this problem personally) with charging a fair price, and fearing criticism or the ire of people who believe everything should be free (as in price) when we need things to be free (as in Liberty). They are not the same, and confusing the two could stifle, or drastically slow down, the insane potential of this place.

TL;DR We have GOT to divert some energy to thinking about how to make this ecosystem sustainable, or we will lose it.

(Disclaimer: this isn’t a judgement on whoever is thinking about this problem. It just *seems* like few are. If you are building in this way please share your ideas or what you are trying. I’m extremely interested)

Slimey Limey 2y ago

Is hard to come from a “free” social media market, to suddenly pay for 3 relays you don’t know what they do.

Could be counterproductive.

But I see your point and agree.

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Discussion

Guy Swann 2y ago

Thats why I like the zap share model. No charge upfront for the bulk of relays, but your client or preferred relay takes a portion of every zap by entering the split into the invoice when it’s called. So every time I zap 1000 sats, like 100 go to #[3] or whatever main relay I use. Then I can also treat this like a sort of built in backup service. Whoever your primary relay is can also store all of your notes.

It might not work as I imagine it, but I still think it’s low barrier, shifts incentives toward encouraging and drastically simplifying everything around zaps (which would be huge), and could *maybe* actually be a meaningful source of sats for providers of this network.

Liberty Gal 2y ago

I love the idea and would definitely be willing to share sats. Although I agree money should go to the clients as well, it seems like the relays have the greatest cost (maybe I'm wrong) and should get a larger portion than the clients. The clients have more of a fixed cost that scales more easily where the cost goes up for every added user for the relays.