This is a fair and valuable analysis.
However, selling someone on a car that's electric is a far cleaner, more valuable proposition than selling someone on a social network that's relay-based. What does that mean relative to where they're coming from?
Gas/combustion --> EV <> X/FB/Tiktok --> relay-based
I think you hit on the exact question there. How can relays themselves be a marketable thing? Be *the* thing? Be the reason people come to try out Nostr. The thing they heard about that makes them think, cool, okay, that's new, I'm going to try this all out. Because if relays can't be that then nostr has no chance.
But if they are to be that then the whole relay narrative needs a major overhaul.
Replace "relay" with "community" and I think it makes sense. Social has always been about community. Relay's need to dial in on this.
The narrative does need to change cause it is too focused on client UX. Clients can be vibe-coded in a weekend by a jr dev. The real nostr is on community based relays (paid or WoT). Get a good relay going with an engaged community and a client for it will rise organically.
Yes these are the lines to think along. New users can't be asked to choose a relay with no mental foothold at all.
