Nostr Web Client

Replying to

atyh

ok. i guess ill be the one who says it.

im watching a nostr project build from rust repos.

im about 10 minutes in.

as im watching, im thinking to myself, 'all this just to send notes over relays.'

there has to be a simpler way.

i love nostr. its what i use every day.

but id be lying if i didnt say it has taken on huge bloat, very quickly.

Luxferre 1y ago

Exactly. I also mentioned this in my phlog post (https://hoi.st/posts/2024-02-12-cosa-nostra.txt):

> Another huge problem is implementation bloat. I haven't been able to find a

> single Nostr client in plain C or Nim. The closest to that was Algia written

> in Go. Requiring EC cryptography, JSON *and* websockets to write a minimum

> viable client is just too much. Not to mention that even web-based clients

> are naturally heavy and don't work in non-JS browsers like Links or NetSurf.

> A lot of these clients also integrate "zap" functionality, which is a word

> for giving tips via... Bitcoin Lightning network. And on top of it all, to

> do zaps, they promote custodial (!) wallets which are implemented as browser

> extensions, as well as some extensions to store Nostr private keys... I lost

> count how many security antipatterns were involved in the implementation of

> all this.

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Discussion

atyh 1y ago

An alternative paradigm needs to be built if we want nostr to have at least a small subculture which isn't dominated by ego centered JavaScript bros and vc motives.

Luxferre 1y ago

I agree. My proposals then would be:

- switch to RSA or allow external utilities like GPG generate and verify message signatures;

- relax the transport requirements (websockets => normal TCP sockets, HTTP POST, scp, rsync etc), ideally by storing the notes as (signed) plain text files on the relay;

- allow to substitute JSON with a Recutil-like or MIME-like format that would preserve the plaintext but let us specify some metadata.

Hold on, I think I have seen all this somewhere already... It probably starts with "e" and ends with "mail".

atyh 1y ago

yeah but if old, well tested, well defined protocols are used, we don't look cool and jack won't give us money. And we can't get infloooencers to come to our airport hotel conferences

Luxferre 1y ago

I mean, yes, "Nostr is just a set of overcomplicated glorified mailing lists that only distribute messages signed with a single algorithm and formatted in a limited way between their subscribers" may be too cold of a shower for someone.

atyh 1y ago

It's fair to say sometimes you go to a coffee shop because your friends do. Not because they make the best coffee.

But in the spirit of generosity, there is a valuable spirit of freedom in there. Even if the coffee making process has been complicated in all the wrong ways. And these days, a desire to preserve freedom can't be downplayed