I think, as open source project, the people running relays do also pay for them in the real world. I think people must still understand how to stack #SATS here. I am also struggling to understand why someone should run its own relay. What are the benefits of „owning“ a part of the nostr ecosystem. There might be people out there that clearly understand it but i am trying to get it atm.
Discussion
I am quite new here also (only a few months in) but maybe I can try to answer some of your questions and if I'm wrong I hope someone more experienced can step in and correct me. #nostrnoob
You struggle to understand why someone would run their own relay but same time question where media and posts are hosted and what if the node/relay goes offline... well, that is the incentive for running your own node, piece of mind and personal security/stability in the network. One example for simplicity is to run an umbrel node, costs a few hundred dollars and comes with a Linux based operating system that allows you to install apps to run BTC node, LN node, NOSTR relay and personal cloud server (and more) all in one device, though I think an external NAS/drive system would be required to make the cloud server fully functional 🤔 you could also build your own device and install the OS.
As to monetisation, there are already premium nodes you can subscribe to, they tend to improve the speed of your feed when loading and perhaps some of them might provide some curation of content? Or creatives might hide some of their content behind a pay wall in this way (I think)
You could argue that the cost for using NOSTR in the long run is not so much in subscription fees (although as mentioned it is kind of possible with the premium nodes) but running your own relay is the cost of doing it "properly" (i'm not there yet, but I hope to be), or you can just trust that there will always be enthusiasts out there willing to pay for others to use the protocol I.e. #noderunners, just be sure to tip with a fat #zap if you ever come across a dev or node runner, they do us all a great service out of pocket!
I hope I can be corrected on any inaccuracies here... #asknostr
Apologies for my interchanging use of relay/node 😅 maybe someone could clarify the difference for me? #asknostr
Depends on the context. A relay must also be a node but a node must not be a relay. Like a bitcoin node is a verifier most of the time but not a relay.
Seems to me that node/relay is somewhat arbitrary and they do the same thing, both can send/receive/verify data. BTC nodes also relay block chain data to other nodes right?
Proof of Stake means that every node must hold the whole chain to be able to verify on. Every Server is a client and every client is a server. Every new block is then distributed to every node. Every transaction is stored if verified at every single Node.
Correct, I already understand this about Bitcoin network. But now I see the difference of the relay... because NOSTR is not a block chain network, it's a different beast. I've been in Bitcoin a while so I understand that well... it's the NOSTR stuff I'm still learning. (Well... let's be honest, the BTC learning also never ends, the rabbit hole just gets deeper at every turn 😂)
Hm … in my understanding, a relay takes something and forward it to someone/something else. If this is the case, the relay only stores the „transaction“, not the data itself. If this is the case, the demand on raw space is similar to the Block- or TimeChain and thus can be manageable and scalable. But still, if someone wants to use the nostr protocol for let’s say, the next YouTube or something similar and the data is really stored redundantly at relay level, it will create incredible amounts of data that not only needs to be stored but also kept in backups and things like that. If this is the case, only the ones with heavy pockets will be able to do so, right? On the other hand, nostr feels like it wants to give this ability to everyone but still the data itself must be stored somewhere right?
I haven’t been reading all the available documentation yet but I’ll do and dive deep into it in order to understand its real value.
Maybe this is a kind of “Enterprise” replacement and if someone can’t afford to do so at least there is a chance to grow with the network and do it by collecting Sats for relay services and other applications.
This is why I understand there is no media hosting on nostr, only links to externally hosted media, only the text is stored on the network relays because the text takes little space... but I clearly have a lot to learn before I fully understand how this all works 😂
Is there a maximum of letters someone can post within a single post? Everything is just a bunch of zeroes and ones at the end of the day. A Video or whatever could also just be coded in text. There must be something to either prevent it or it is simply allowed and someone could just post brutal amounts of data.
Well... it's a good point but i'm under the impression nostr notes only allow for "simple text" i'm clearly out of my depth here and need to RTFM 😂
If you run your own relay, you can use it for be sure that all your notes are never lost. There are other advantages but, at its minimun, it can be used as backup