This is my RADICAL approach to how I would build a community-first Nostr client:

First of all: remove access to the entire ecosystem once a user logs in. (I know this sounds counterintuitive, but hear me out).

This is a community-first approach. Once you're onboarded by a creator, you don't want random Bitcoin or footstr content on your timeline. You came to interact with the community. In the beginning, give users as little choice as possible when it comes to interacting with the protocol.

All they see and feel is the core function of the client: COMMUNITY!

They didn’t come to grow their own community or make new internet friends—they came for the artist, the YouTuber, or whoever it is they care about.

So give them time to slowly get used to the new interface and focus on enjoying their first experience. How do we do that?

From a product and UX perspective, this means thinking about how users interact with the platform and designing an intuitive, engaging experience.

Based on conversations with my friends, here’s what they need:

User-first approach (duh): Users own their data and private keys but don't know that at first. The experience starts as a simple username-password login (NIP-07).

Onboarding: There needs to be a paywall (both fiat and BTC), with as little friction as possible.

Forum-style discussions: Organize content into threads/topics so users can easily participate in conversations.

Threaded discussions: Each thread allows for nested replies, much like Reddit or traditional forums, enabling deep, organized conversations.

Tagging system: Let users tag content by topic or interest to make navigation easier.

We don't want to overcomplicate things—just keep it simple. Make it a basic forum where they only see content from their community.

Voting/Engagement system: Introduce upvoting, reactions, or comments on posts—this is easy.

Now comes the magic of Nostr... with zaps (tips) or the ability to send money back and forth, users slowly realize that this is actually different. (You see? We’re getting there gradually.)

Moderation tools: Yeah, I know this sounds lame, but some creators wouldn’t want their forum spammed with footstr pics (sorry, guys). Allow some users to moderate discussions, flag inappropriate content, or create private spaces within the community.

This is the basic community client mvp. It would be enough for some creators who care about freedom and want to build a community on a self-sovereign level. The rest comes later down the road.

Private and public spaces: Offer both public forums and private groups where users can control membership and discussions—more options for the user.

Leaderboards: Show the most active or helpful members based on engagement, contributions, zaps, or participation.

Reputation: WoT, yes baby—now we're getting closer to the full Nostr ecosystem.

Achievements: Gamify the experience by rewarding users with badges or other forms of recognition for their engagement.

User-controlled feed: Implement a home feed based on the relays and topics the user follows - this is where I would open up the whole nostr ecosystem (how? I have no clue yet).

Analytics: Give admins and group leaders insights into community engagement, most active users, and popular threads.

User feedback system: Allow users to provide feedback on discussions, groups, and content, enabling continuous improvement for the content creator / community owner but also for the client.

These are my first thoughts.

After brain-dumping all of this, I realize that this almost works as a white-label solution for creators.

So… does this make sense? What do you think?

I know it’s radically different from opening up the whole Nostr ecosystem to users, but I want to experiment with this. Based on conversations I’ve had, people would be overwhelmed by too much too soon.

This also solves the problem of onboarding people and letting them follow random accounts. Here, they follow people with similar interests and those they already trust, which reflects trust onto the protocol as a whole.

I’m not sure if this will eventually lead to users discovering the full beauty of the Nostr ecosystem, but hey—that’s for later down the road. At least this is running on nostr in the backend.

Also, I have no idea how to code any of this. But I want to make it happen. This is me starting an open conversation.

Let’s see where this takes us and how we can make it happen together. 🧡

Yes, a good assessment. I did not intend on coming across as very snarky before, by the way.

I believe you are right about people being convinced and *demand* being met. I recall a story from last year about a local municipal worker in some midsized town quietely keeping fluoride levels in the town's water supply to a very low level. He did this for something like a decade before it was discovered. Super based, but there were locals who got very upset about it.

My commentary was a little less about the motives of those who push high fluoridation and more about the broader context. This issue only arises in a post-industrialized world, where households don't know where their water, food, or energy come from. Where big, fiat-funded bureaucratic agencies make decisions and policies for *public health* from on high and detached from locales.

There are many people in power that benefit from a populace that is fat, sick, dumb, and dependent. But there are also just bureaucrats maintaining status quo. I think the fluoride issue is just one of a great many issues that this is true for.

Anyway, I could say more, but I'll reiterate that you make fine points and I too am a big fan of free market capitalism, despite the shortcomings.

I would argue that this soet of thing arose out of post-industrial-fiat-fueled-cronyism. But maybe that's just me.

You think America still has capitalism?

INFANT WATER: with added NEUROTOXIN!

It is genuinely insane that companies (with the sign-off of the CDC, FDA, etc.) market fluoride water for BABIES when higher levels of fluoride in drinking water are associated with lower IQ in children.

Our Bitcoin strategy is simple:

Keep expenses lower than our revenue, save the excess in sats

Accept sats as a method of payment

Use a non custodial Lightning wallet as our chequing account

Use a hardware wallet as our savings account to store 2 months worth of farm expenses in sats

Secure our farm treasury using a multisig vault with geographically distributed keys and a protocol that requires 3 days and multiple parties to broadcast a spend transaction

Borrow fiat by using a small portion of our treasury as collateral

—

When it comes to collateralized loans, we have high lender standards and strict due diligence practices

We only work with lenders who:

Do not rehypothecate funds

Offer transparent on chain UTXO monitoring

Offer loan rollover and flexible repayment

Deposit fiat via wire transfer directly to our bank account

Offer insurance on bitcoin deposits

—

21st century farming on a #bitcoin standard leverages the power of pristine digital collateral

We are long bitcoin and short fiat

We don’t trade bitcoin

We are responsible with our lending and don’t borrow more than we need

We aim to never sell our sats

#nostr #bitcoin #farm #farmer #health #shortfiat #food #soil #health

Caught this dude chillin on the roof this morning.

wtf are these birds in Nashville? They are massive

i want

Your testosterone levels dictate entirely whether you believe in objective truth or not

kapow!