Nostr

Step 1: Went on Nostr.com from my iMac thinking it was a platform just like Instagram, X, etc., not realizing it was its own protocol that all these client apps would be built on.

Step 2: Created keys on Nostr.com.

(Didn’t do anything with those keys for about a week or two)

(Saw a video on Youtube about Nostr and which apps work well with it for iOS and Android. Then the concept of what Nostr is clicked)

Step 3: Downloaded Damus on my iPhone.

Step 4: Air dropped the keys file I previously made from Nostr.com into my iPhone from my iMac — because I didn’t want the keys to go to waste.

Step 5: Pasted keys into Damus and tried to build my profile and connect with people from there.

I had noticed that following people was seemingly glitchy, but figured it was just taking the relays time to update or something. But then after closing and opening the app intermittently I began to realize that the following function was just not working at all. It would show I followed if I clicked follow in one session. But if I opened and closed the app, the same person I had followed previously would show up as not followed. Then I tried a different client (Nos Social), followed some people on there, and then following now works on Damus. Also before that, the notifications section would not show anything, only after I made the fix did it start working.

I know that was lengthy, but just trying to give as much detail as possible.

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Discussion

Thank you, attempting to recreate now

https://github.com/nostrability/nostrability/issues/223

nostr:npub1r9rek7zzenudd0fszwl4q37hr29uvhzf7zefrzddztarx5mx9pzs0faeyf I was able to recreate your unhappy path of generating keys in nostr.com and plugging into iOS damus:

cc nostr:npub1c878wu04lfqcl5avfy3p5x83ndpvedaxv0dg7pxthakq3jqdyzcs2n8avm nostr:npub1cx4q5tcwzgga60zxu2zavjjprt9y7fgt6de2p6zmnrmad5pujfgscr8vf0 nostr:npub13v47pg9dxjq96an8jfev9znhm0k7ntwtlh9y335paj9kyjsjpznqzzl3l8

Well I was able to post notes, but mainly wasnt able to follow people

Yes, I confirmed the same behavior.

There is a ‘first aid’ in damus settings that could help here.

Maybe iOS damus should auto-surface this on detected missing contact / relay list nostr:npub13v47pg9dxjq96an8jfev9znhm0k7ntwtlh9y335paj9kyjsjpznqzzl3l8 nostr:npub1xtscya34g58tk0z605fvr788k263gsu6cy9x0mhnm87echrgufzsevkk5s

Confirming first aid via iOS Damys helped fix the missing contact and relay list/inability to follow people

TBH this happens every time I onboard someone to Damus. The default relays never seem to work as expected and it always has the most issues with following other users or saving profile data. I’ve mostly had to switch to Primal to get anyone properly set up.

So you would say it’s a Damus issue and not a Nostr issue?

What is happening under the hood is a private key/nsec is successfully generated *without* a contact list, a relay list.

Damus accepts the nsec, and does not overwrite the contact list. The rationale is that in certain situations the user might accidentally lose a larger contact list.

This is a crap experience for first time nostr joiners. Will investigate how to improve.

Oh wow. I’m not 100% sure I understand all of the ins and outs of the Nostr protocol, but I think I understand what you’re saying. Thank you for the help. I’ll be sure to recommend a client app directly when pointing someone to Nostr.

This really needs to get prioritized IMO, it’s probably leading to a lot of abandoned npubs and contributing to the “Nostr doesn’t work” myth.

https://github.com/damus-io/damus/issues/3173

https://github.com/nostrability/nostrability/issues/223

nostr:npub1r9rek7zzenudd0fszwl4q37hr29uvhzf7zefrzddztarx5mx9pzs0faeyf thank you for your patience and persistence. I’ve documented the issue in detail, and am challenging the devs to improve the onboarding experience.

nostr:npub13v47pg9dxjq96an8jfev9znhm0k7ntwtlh9y335paj9kyjsjpznqzzl3l8 s lets revisit/discuss automating first aid.

nostr:npub1aeh2zw4elewy5682lxc6xnlqzjnxksq303gwu2npfaxd49vmde6qcq4nwx can you confirm this is for newly created keys with damus, or via nsec login flow?

If the latter, where are the keys created?

I’ve seen this problem occur both with keys created via Damus as well as other clients including Primal. I don’t have too much specific I can offer, only that Damus is one of the more frustrating clients when it comes to seeing newly created profiles, as well as publishing profile edits for new users with the default relay set.

so you're just referring to not seeing up to date profile info?

https://github.com/damus-io/damus/issues/2637

maybe this is the same as

It’s hard for me to give you a detailed answer because it’s something I mainly observe when helping others onboard, which is infrequent.

Without the ability to manage multiple npubs in Damus and create new ones without signing out of this one, it’s not something I can quickly test.

I tried setting up a test profile using Damus running on my MacBook and didn’t run into any real issues so maybe it’s not a consistent problem.

This npub populated right away for me when I searched for it: nostr:npub1kgep4vrwk92gqt7h3xqsxke7gv8kscc9d5cmc20ev6rz30djs50ss2dan3

For all I know, it could have been something to do with my own relay set, which is hopefully resolved now.

the "cold start" issue is real and a bad experience. it takes a bit for things to get into the cache, especially on mobile connections when downloading all the profile pictures and metadata.

nostr:npub1aeh2zw4elewy5682lxc6xnlqzjnxksq303gwu2npfaxd49vmde6qcq4nwx when you experienced this unhappy path are you on cellular, or wifi?

Last time it was on cellular when I was helping nostr:npub1qh0jz20dqhry8asgr8nxcyafjyvecmqdqcqdflnpf5q5ecjmctusn6kgkm onboard in Vegas.