Friend: I haven't really done anything on Nostr yet, because I'm waiting for a "group" option.
Me: Sure you can. Just start posting and building a network of follows and followers. It's a level playing field.
Friend: It would be intermingled with the general population though.. which is primarily BTC focused.. I can see conflict of interest issues arising from me attempting to build a fiat based community by posting to recruit members for our community there.
Me: no, it's a level playing field. why hide the fact that you're trying to build a revenue stream and portfolio balance using diverse security investments to drive a snowball into a giant? There is no conflict here.
Friend: So you’re saying if I were to advertise a new fiat based, dividend themed community in the general population chat, that is primarily focused on BTC and cryptocurrencies (a community that is already against all things fiat), they wouldn’t attack what I’m trying to do? Because I see it daily on all other social media.
Me: Some individuals might laugh, some might post something stupid. That just means those profiles are not worth your time, and you mute them and move on. People who appreciate the content will interact with it in a positive manner.
The only reason that Nostr is so flooded with Bitcoin posts is because that's the majority of the userbase. But at the same time, the devs are whining because the network isn't growing very fast, and the truth is we all bring our own networks with us, and build new ones from the ground up in whatever social media platform we use. People are people, let them be stupid if they want. Don't let it stop you.
Friend: I can respect that.. I guess the question is whether I want to put myself through the aggravation of sorting through the negativity to find the small percentage of positivity for my cause.
Me: I think the level of aggravation comes from the way the app works more than the people. If it's super easy to mute idiots, then we can move on without too much stress. If they keep coming back or the platform itself hits us with bs, that's where the real negativity is.
I hate FB because their algorithm is out of control. I hate X because their notification system is broken and I can't see who is interacting with my posts and comments. I don't hate the people.
And I have dealt with some people on Nostr who say "can you put your dividend posts under a different profile so I don't have to deal with them? and my answer was just "no, this is me, deal with it".
Friend: It’s still an option.. the frustrating part right now for me is that we have built something so great on Facebook, with such a good group of people.. and now facebook decides to go on offensive mode and start attacking us, when there are far worse things being shared there (porn, etc). But the thought of trying to convince everyone to move off of it completely is exhausting.
Me: I have not bee posting much about dividends on Nostr, but only because I don't have a network built that welcome the posts. So that's what I'm trying to build, slowly.
Friend: They (corporate social media) allow the filth, but attack US for sharing and promoting legit content. I can’t tell you how many times I have reported legit porn on Facebook, only to get a response back, saying it “does not violate their terms of service”.
Me: Yep, same.
And to be honest, I do believe that Bitcoin is the future monetary foundation whether we like it or not, and you can confirm that I haven't been hiding that very much.
Lesson for Nostr: People are coming. Prepare yourselves. If you can't be positive, leave it alone. Don't like the posts coming from a profile? Ignore them. Unfollow if you want to, mute them if you have to. But lets build this protocol into a global system where everyone is welcome. Because if we don't, corporates will drink our milkshake.
there is truth, and there is fiction. We have choices, then we have consequences. There are causes and effects. history doesn't judge, it just records.
One year ago, I was a frequent consumer of American right-wing alternative media, like Dave Rubin, Jordan Peterson, Steven Crowder, Tucker Carlson. I mostly agreed with most of the issues they were talking about. I was concerned about woke cancel culture and the loss of free speech. I also listened to Alan Dershowitz (life-long democrat), Redacted News, Kim Iversen, Glenn Greenwald, Matt Taibbi, Viva Frei and some other non-right-wing sources.
After Al-Aqsa flood on Oct 7 where Hamas successfully executed a well planned military operation in Israel, where I saw a deeply long-term and continually oppressed people finally get a modicum of revenge on the people oppressing them and also strategically capture some hostages (Israel had about 3000 Palestinian hostages at the time, so tit-for-tat) --- because I knew the context well before the event happened --- they (the American right) instead saw horrible terrorist sub-human violent people out-of-the-blue raping, incinerating and cutting heads off of babies (which I couldn't believe, so I watched many hours of videos to see what actually happened, and that was propaganda - the vast majority killed were military).
Anyhow, I couldn't stomach listening to Dave Rubin, Jordan Peterson (who tweeted "Glass Gaza"), Steven Crowder or Alan Dershowitz after that (and many others) despite believing that we should try to listen to all sides, I just couldn't stomach it. And I'm consuming less social media video content overall which is a good thing. I still listen to Tucker Carlson who I haven't heard push the Zionist stuff.
But I guess I'm moving towards the left on more than just the Israel issue (or maybe I'm standing still and they are moving). What I thought I knew about immigration and culture clash I don't think I believe anymore. And this video shifted my thinking more substantially than most videos do. Many of you may disagree with this, but it will get you thinking nonetheless: https://rumble.com/v5bbf0t-uk-headed-for-civil-war-whos-behind-it-all-redacted-w-natali-and-clayton-mo.html
Historically I've felt like I was on Tommy Robinson's side, because I was on the side of free speech. But the situation is more complicated than just one political issue.
You have not moved left. You have woken up to the reality that the left v right war in our media is a game they play to keep us distracted and confused.
How is Nostr growing in Brazil?
#asknostr
nostr:note1sk6wdscj9q50hvwlpuh70vm4vk5j7dfhulemzfrmk3htg8glzluqrf4d76
Why Nostr is struggling…
There is too much of an overlap with X, not only in the feature sets among the primary applications, but more importantly, in the kind of audience that Nostr is catering to.
Sure..censorship resistance at the protocol level is a differentiator, but the to the average person, you may as well be talking gibberish. They don’t know wtf a protocol is in the first place - let alone why it matters for censorship resistance to happen at that level, or more importantly, WHY they should trust Nostr to deliver on that promise. “Bcoz nostr:npub1sg6plzptd64u62a878hep2kev88swjh3tw00gjsfl8f237lmu63q0uf63m said so” is not an argument.
————
Bluesky is a case in point here.
It’s got a VERY similar feature set to X, claims to be open source / censorship resistant (similar narrative to Nostr), and is growing MUCH faster than Nostr, bc it has captured a key audience, ie; people with TDS and EDS (Elon Derangement Syndrome).
I’ve been on there a few times, and the content quality is enough to make you want to throw up….but at the very least, it’s working for that kind of content, and for the people who want it.
I don’t have a direct answer here..but I think it’s something to do with the over-emphasis on technicals.
nostr:npub1az9xj85cmxv8e9j9y80lvqp97crsqdu2fpu3srwthd99qfu9qsgstam8y8 mentioned increasing the emphasis on design the other day. I agree this is a move in the right direction. We’re taking a very design-focused approach with nostr:npub15xd2mmjnh3caykh77djsv73e0zkrp42jp5mwerx8f4m6su40wdvss7t3l3 (we’ll have ALOT more to show in the next 6wks).
That being said, it’s not enough.
IMO, Nostr is technically mature enough for us to go out there and talk about it to more people, and build a narrative BEYOND the 500 of us that are talking to each other on here.
People like nostr:npub1l2vyh47mk2p0qlsku7hg0vn29faehy9hy34ygaclpn66ukqp3afqutajft or nostr:npub1dergggklka99wwrs92yz8wdjs952h2ux2ha2ed598ngwu9w7a6fsh9xzpc can correct me if I am wrong here. Maybe there’s alot more to do technically.
But if I am right, I’d like to see more initiatives that are marketing oriented being supported by nostr:npub17xvf49kht23cddxgw92rvfktkd3vqvjgkgsdexh9847wl0927tqsrhc9as and nostr:npub10pensatlcfwktnvjjw2dtem38n6rvw8g6fv73h84cuacxn4c28eqyfn34f and other coalitions. Maybe we even need a council of Nostr businesses, who together pool some funds to help drive some marketing initiatives?
Whatever the case, we need to expand upon the Nostr narrative, make it more compelling and speak to more people about it.
At the very least, we have to conquer then Bitcoiners. If we can’t get the segment who are into freedom money onto the freedom of speech network, we’re DOA. That’s a first step.
I know nostr:npub1hz5alqscpp8yjrvgsdp2n4ygkl8slvstrgvmjca7e45w6644ew7sewtysa is working on a very cool initiative in relation to this. The Nostr Booth is IMO a great way to make Nostr more “real” for bitcoiners by having a physical presence at all the conferences.
I know nostr:npub1utx00neqgqln72j22kej3ux7803c2k986henvvha4thuwfkper4s7r50e8 + nostr:npub180cvv07tjdrrgpa0j7j7tmnyl2yr6yr7l8j4s3evf6u64th6gkwsyjh6w6 are doing some Podcast outreach. That’s super important too. nostr:npub16vrkgd28wq6n0h77lqgu8h4fdu0eapxgyj0zqq6ngfvjf2vs3nuq5mp2va and crew are putting on Nostriga. Amazing. nostr:npub16c0nh3dnadzqpm76uctf5hqhe2lny344zsmpm6feee9p5rdxaa9q586nvr / nostr:npub12vkcxr0luzwp8e673v29eqjhrr7p9vqq8asav85swaepclllj09sylpugg are doing great things with nostr:npub1spdnfacgsd7lk0nlqkq443tkq4jx9z6c6ksvaquuewmw7d3qltpslcq6j7, etc on the content side. I’ve got some things up my sleeve personally which I will begin to do once nostr:npub15xd2mmjnh3caykh77djsv73e0zkrp42jp5mwerx8f4m6su40wdvss7t3l3 is in a position to represent a NEW kind of Nostr-product..
But we need MOAR..
And…we also need to find another angle that is NOT about censorship resistance. That’s clearly not working against X.
I don’t know the EXACT narrative or spin, but it has to be more “running towards” than “running from”.
More white pill, less black pill.
Anyway.
I will probably turn this into an article. I’ve been thinking more and more about “writing in public” as we build Satlantis, and sharing more about how we’re thinking about growing a “network product” on top of a “network protocol”.
If you think this was valuable, please repoast so more people can see and get involved in the discussion.
Bitcoin Circular Economies that use the Lightning Network is the biggest draw, and the problem is that the communities that need those structures the most are usually in the locations where Internet bandwidth is lacking or the most expensive per KB. I mean, it still works to transfer value via phone from person to person, but building a large enough network to start to build a monetary foundation for an entire community is a long haul project, not something to be taken lightly or just mentioned in passing.
Nostr being a single global platform where everyone is equal hasn't been seen since the early days of myspace. We need to relearn what a social network is, how it is built, and how it connects to the larger world IRL and economy.
Bitcoin Circular Economies is how we will build the future:
https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmWdc2Nz7h4NfFeBpPks3jnUAu3Nz2yepuZo8kJni6RYdK?filename=Glob....pdf
Until the US Federal government balances the budget, and stops borrowing from bond buyers to pay yesterday's bond buyers, none of this is going to get better. And we have a dosfuctional government that REFUSES to have real discussions about how to balance the budget.
I AM A NOSTR NOOB, TEACH ME WISE ONES
I want to love Nostr and use it more. My problem is discoverability - it’s very hard to recreate a social graph + algo that beats Twitter. I see less content here and people see my posts less, so I have fewer conversations. How do I bootstrap the nostr graph without so much drudgery?
Help nostr:npub1qny3tkh0acurzla8x3zy4nhrjz5zd8l9sy9jys09umwng00manysew95gx nostr:npub1az9xj85cmxv8e9j9y80lvqp97crsqdu2fpu3srwthd99qfu9qsgstam8y8 nostr:npub1a2cww4kn9wqte4ry70vyfwqyqvpswksna27rtxd8vty6c74era8sdcw83a nostr:npub1zuuajd7u3sx8xu92yav9jwxpr839cs0kc3q6t56vd5u9q033xmhsk6c2uc and anyone else I know in this place
No algorithms, no advertising, no corporations, no bs. Well, it's all people posting so I'm sure there's a lot of bs. But the other three are certainly true. So what we're doing is building new networks from scratch. X isn't going to link to this. Fediverse has, but it's hard to find people across the bridge. If you follow enough people, you'll scroll for days, and if that's what you want to do with your time, then just follow everyone. Personally, I'm living my life, checking this feed when I have time, and stacking sats.
X is hosed. Notifications won't update the timeline, and I can't log in from my phone. Thank the gods for Nostr.
Trying out Primal for the first time, thanks to the annoying insistence of nostr:npub1qny3tkh0acurzla8x3zy4nhrjz5zd8l9sy9jys09umwng00manysew95gx ... Looking forward to posting on #NOSTR more regularly (and weening off of X) via a solid desktop app! 🍻
I removed X from my phone, because it suddenly wouldn't let me log in. I can still access on browser, but I keep telling people to come to a real social network, not corporate cages.
Bitcoin, Nostr and Zaps are the very core of the concept "Pay it Forward". If we could get people to pay it forward across the world, everything would change.
Everything. Would. Change.
The struggle is real...
And the best thing we can do is encourage circular economic networks to self-assemble and connect across the world.
Neither of them understand what is happening. And neither will even try to address the real problems.
Eric Yakes writes about the three stage evolution of the new monetary foundation here:
Shots fired as AT&T and Verizon ask FCC to block Starlink's direct-to-cell plans - Rivals claim signal waiver would interfere with terrestrial networks Starlink's rivals in... - https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/16/att_verizon_starlink/
Maybe Elon should start buying AT$T and Verizon stock until they can come to an agreement. If they don't reach an agreement before he hits 10% ownership, he just takes over.
Dream: Download full Facebook content from settings, run through a script, drop result into personal Nostr node, add node to list of relays in a clent, and see every post, photo, video, comment, etc. within the Nostr client.
Possible? Way beyond my skills, but it's a dream.
#asknostr
“But Mr. Furman said there was a risk that policies meant to curb corporate price gouging could instead keep the economy from adjusting. If prices do not rise in response to strong demand, new companies may not have as much inclination to jump into the market to ramp up supply.
“This is not sensible policy, and I think the biggest hope is that it ends up being a lot of rhetoric and no reality,” he said. “There’s no upside here, and there is some downside.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/15/business/economy/kamala-harris-inflation-price-gouging.html
What they refuse to understand is that prices going up is a SYMPTOM, not a problem that must be solved. Corporations raise prices for a reason, and it's increased perceived cost, not just because they want to screw over their customers. The government doesn't understand their role in this, they think they need to take control instead of build a foundation so that market systems can work properly.