Has anyone made a nostr client that prompts users to give their contacts "petnames" and only treats the name given in a profile as a "proposed name"? This paper argues that petnames can replace the DNS system: https://files.spritely.institute/papers/petnames.html
Discussion
Gossip lets you set petnames. It is manual work but very helpful when people change their usual nick or pfp
Awesome! I think I can create a tool for adding "edge names" -- names given by a friend to a friend-of-a-friend. Then we'll have a full petname system on nostr:
- A petname is the name you manually give to someone
- A proposed name is one given in a profile -- clients can display them with an indicator that they might be an imposter (unless/until you confirm them)
- An edge name is supplied for someone you haven't picked a petname for yet, by checking if any of the people you follow have given that person a petname
Can this system prove better than DNS? I dunno but I'd like to find out!
Petnames will help you pick the right contacts for your signal group chats
https://www.404media.co/you-need-to-use-signals-nickname-feature/