Nostr Web Client

One of the biggest barriers to adoption and long-term retention on Nostr, in my opinion, is key management. Public/private key pairs are powerful, but they’re also unfamiliar and intimidating to most people. It’s simply not how the majority of users are used to signing in or thinking about accounts.

That’s why the diVine Keycast login system is so well done. It introduces a key management layer that feels familiar, usernames and passwords, while still operating within the Nostr ecosystem. For most people, this dramatically lowers the learning curve and removes friction at the moment it matters most: getting started.

True sovereign users may never choose this approach, and that’s fine. But millions of everyday users will. And that’s okay too. If we want Nostr to grow beyond early adopters, we need paths that meet people where they are, without forcing everyone to become a cryptography expert on day one.

In short, I'm a fan and I hope that other applications adopt similar technologies in the future. As long as we have various user options and give users the choice to be sovereign, I still believe that we're on the correct path forward.

BushRat 3w ago

The key pair was really easy to get my head around.

Public key is a unique account identifier, private key is your password.

Google has no problem remembering your private key if you don't care about privacy or whatever.

The real issue is that people don't understand how to use social media without algorithms deciding what they see.

And that conformist influencers get more v4v copy pasting crap from Twitter than artists get for their actual art work.

If that culture changed (i believe it will as nostr grows the twitter celebrities will all become far less relevant)

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Discussion

Derek Ross 3w ago

It's not so much understanding the key pairs, it's securing them. People lose keys and burn keys. The average person struggles here. Giving them a management tool helps with that.

The absence of algorithms is both a blessing and a curse. It's great, because people can become their own algorithms and choose their content streams. It's bad because user discovery and content discovery suffer immensely.

Algorithms are not bad. What's bad about them is when they're closed or forced upon users without choice.

BushRat 3w ago

For the average normie letting google remember it is enough.

Better key management options are required, but I don't see anyone making new accounts saying they lost their keys.

People mostly just vanish I assume because they didn't get the traction they expected or they couldn't find people worth following and got bored.

Lack of algorithms is the best and worst part about nostr, it's a learning curve after being programmed to rely on them.

Really need one that shows all the new accounts to each other so need people can find each other.

People will share an introduction note, but never check the hashtag themselves.

Derek Ross 3w ago

I've seen a several dozen people lose their keys over the years. Some people multiple times. It happens. And in the beginning days, it happens a lot. Many of us have been here three years now, but those early days were rough for some.

We have a lot of work to do with user and content discovery still. It's slowly getting better.