Best way to find paid relays?
Discussion
The best way to find good paid relays is to see what others are using. The best way to find paid relays generally is nostr.watch
click settings icon
scroll down a bit and there you have most of 'em
then check nostr.watch to find best latency (low) and such
My approach to nostr is a little bit more guarded with my new npub (not this one). I'm trying to route everything with my vanity npub/nsec, through my local relay.
It is not clear to me how that propagates out to the larger network, however, and I'm fearful of exposing my nsec to other relays at this point.
Perhaps my understanding of paid relays is lacking at present, but I'm seeing the rush to using paid relays as possibly incredibly short-sighted, given we're trading off one set of centrality issues for another...
I learned that the term βrelayβ is actually not very descriptive, as they donβt actually relay anything, itβs more just a server.
If you route everything through your local relay, and not to any others, then only people connected to your local relay will be able to access your info. Now, you can make it so people can read only your local relay and not fill it up with their junk, but still people not connected wonβt see your stuff.
There are some relays feeding lots of relays all their incoming data, but that is not a normal operation.
So, is the side-effect of this, that if many users are posting on a paid relay, those of us not using said relay may not see their content?
Well, I donβt think so no, but rather they might not see your content. As the paid relays work in a way that allows non payers to read the data, but not write data. If you add a paid relay to your relay list, youβll be able to read all the content, but other uses wonβt see your content unless you pay the relay for the ability to write.
"unless you pay the relay for the ability to write" -- This is starting to sound very dangerously centralized...
Paid relays are centralized, yes. But that isnβt the point of the protocol, the point is you have the option to run your own relay, and host your own data. If you reach out to your friends, family, interested parties, give them your relay information, they can always follow you and read your data. If you become president, and all of your supporters follow your relay, it doesnβt matter if the paid relays stop your data from transmitting, your communications will not be prevented from reaching those who follow your relay.
The idea that centralized services are somehow evil or serve no purpose is not logical. They serve a practical purpose of connecting people who have no previous connection or interaction.
Click on peopleβs relay list and hop on
Stolen from #[2]
Paid Relay Update:
I've always said it's hard to gauge a public relay. It's hard to tell if it works well. It's hard to tell if it's fast. That basically, it's like throwing spaghetti at a wall. I even once wrote a funny story about this.
Since paid relays launched, I've been using the following paid relays:
wss://eden.nostr.land
wss://puravida.nostr.land
wss://atlas.nostr.land
wss://relay.orangepill.dev
wss://nostr.milou.lol
wss://nostr.wine
wss://filter.nostr.wine
Over the past two months, I've not had any major problems using them. atlas.nostr.land was down for about two weeks, but #[0] fixed the issue and it's been fine since. nostr.milou.lol was down for about a week, but #[1] fixed that issue and it's been fine since.
All of the above I will vouch for and say that they've been great and that I am going to continue to use them. π€