Ditched all social media a while back with the notable exception of nostr and was just today thinking how much better life is. Even though I’m still technically on social media, somehow nostr is nowhere near as addictive and hard to put down. The algos are real!

Welcome!

Thinking about doing the same. 😮‍💨

Primal’s trending algo is no longer easily gameable by bots. We implemented a new system based on web of trust. We will publish more details soon, but the high-level idea is to infer humanity of a pubkey based on its connections in the social graph. As always, full source code for this system is open and available in our repo.

Given this new capability, we removed everyone from the "can't trend" list. This means that every Nostr account is able to trend on Primal; they just need to post a note that produces genuine user engagement. We will monitor the results of this, but it is possible that a global "can't trend" list is no longer needed.

The best part: Primal’s trending feed got a whole lot better!

Yes or no?

bitcoin is great but if Rogan invited me on I would probably spend the majority of the time talking about nostr tbh

If you somehow send the right bitcoiner or panel of bitcoiners on Rogan that vibes with him and makes him get it:

speed is the greatest feature

Every year, I spend 1-2 months living in Egypt. This is because my husband is originally from Egypt, his family is much larger than mine, and so while our economic base is in the US, our social base is actually in Egypt. I thus became multinational many years ago.

However, my husband spends 3-4 months each year in Egypt, while I only spend 1-2 months there. So, there are 1-2 months where I’m in the US alone. The reason I choose to do this is to look after the household and business, and because I’m not as productive in Egypt (inconsistent internet, less optimal workstation, way more social pressures, and so forth).

In some ways, we find that spending some time apart strengthens our relationship and lets us focus on our separate things for part of the year. And when we meet after 1-2 months, it’s such a great reunion. We find ourselves wanting to catch up on so much and spend extra time together. But also, even though in some ways I look forward to having time alone and indeed get a lot done during that time, I immediately regret it once I am alone. I find myself constantly looking forward to going to Egypt, as I am now. During these periods, I end up posting more on social media, either constructively or non-constructively, in what tends to be a replacement for diminished in-person contact.

This seems to be amplified by my work situation. When I was an engineer, I worked with colleagues in person each day, but now that I work from home, my colleagues are virtual and I meet them in person only at major events. So, this relatively brief window each year of being in a different place than my husband tends to be oddly monk-like, with me at home alone 24 hours per day, working and living and doing whatever I do. I think one of my future goals will be to increase my deliberate effort at spending time with local friends, especially during this part of the year.

Anyway, I’m doing a series of “real thoughts” uniquely on Nostr, and this is the first one.

Conclusion: Social circles are (obviously) a very important thing, including for workaholics and introverts like myself. Social circles affect us in various ways, and having gone through many cycles, I have become increasingly aware of the changes that take place during these seasonal cycles of being close to others vs far from others.

Following hashtags

The new tipping systems of various social networks are so much worse than zaps.

The clunky UX of using walled garden dollars for tips vs using sats seems like it will be one of the obvious differentiators.

I never give a shit what my neighbors do as long as they do it quietly.