Avatar
DK ⚡️
e26b5f261cb29354def8a8ba6af49b137e3144388a81ef78eed8e77cfb18fd44
Remixing wisdom for fun & profit, in pursuit of a life well-lived.
Replying to Avatar John Goddard

WRONGTHINK

I just got fired for wrongthink.

Then I find out that my bank account’s been frozen, too.

I try to get an Uber back home but no cars will pick me up.

How did Uber find out I committed wrongthink?

I check my phone and apparently I’ve been banned from Instagram for the same reason.

Then a social worker knocks on my door and takes my son from me.

They tell me I’ve endangered my son by exposing him to wrongthink.

The State will now house and re-educate him, ensuring that he is only exposed to Government-Approved facts.

I feel my heart rate increase.

I try to turn some lights on, but it looks like my power has been disconnected.

I remember that I have some cash upstairs, so I decide to use that to buy some food whilst my bank accounts are frozen.

But the grocery store tells me that it can’t accept cash. So now I can’t even buy food!

I think I have some vague recollections of people warning me about the dangers of a cashless society…

I call all my friends for help, but none of them want to talk to me. They’ve all been warned about my wrongthink.

They know that if they talk to me on the phone for too long, they’ll get punished as well.

I call the police to see if they can help me.

They say no, but I’m referred to a Government-Approved Mental Support Officer.

I tell her my situation, and she listens carefully.

Once I’m done, I hear the Officer get extremely excited.

She tells me that the Government has a new solution they’re trialing for people in my situation: a Euthanasia Care Package.

She says it’s my best option.

The best thing is that it’s $0 up front! They just charge a 58% tax on my estate.

I ask if there are any other options, as this seems a bit heavy-handed.

But she says that Euthanasia is perfect for people like me.

She stresses that it’s a voluntary decision, but then adds that the Government will continue to deny me services until I opt in to the Euthanasia Care Package.

I sit on the floor of my living room in despair.

How could all of this happen to me?

And just because I noticed that the TV was telling me lies?

I didn’t even break any laws.

These days it seems that there’s one set of rules for the people who repeat what the news tells them.

And another set of rules for the people who speak out about the continuous stream of inconsistencies and outright lies that we are force-fed every day at 6pm.

And these lies coming from the TV seem so obvious to me.

So I wonder how other people don’t notice them. Why don’t they say anything?

And then after a while I realise that they must notice them, but they’ve been forced to ignore their own eyes by this machinery of coercion.

You see, governments, media, and corporations are now so interconnected globally that they can move in unison to unperson anyone who doesn’t say that 2 + 2 = 5.

And so I was unpersoned for wrongthink.

As if I’d committed a crime.

But I wasn’t tried by a court, I was tried by this new judicial system.

Where there’s no evidence, no trial, and no judge.

Just a verdict and a punishment.

This is why we #nostr and why we #bitcoin!

nostr:note1843d7xsa4k5wpa0sq680xk4dgu89pqzysrfrsfamxhe9zjkt0gnsjn9979

While I love the idea, you guys are already competing like few industries I've seen.

nostr:note1ffcs2r3l7nvm6mu6vvydcqf3qhp9f6nd6j6u6njjkp35qf5r7fjqvq0vq9

nostr:npub1xtscya34g58tk0z605fvr788k263gsu6cy9x0mhnm87echrgufzsevkk5s@`miljan`@`Kieran`

lol - Go Bears. 😉🐻

My hometown. Enjoy the Taste if you go. I'll be in town for the game tomorrow. 🔥

gm

testing 1....2....3....

GM, Nostr Fam. Be the change you wish to see, create and zap some notes, and DCA stack some sats today. Wishing you well, and PV! 🙏🏼⚡❤️

#coffeechain #plebchain #grownostr

Planning a wedding as well, while sneaking in work on another business launch, with a 🔥 Guy's Take as soundtrack. ⚡🤝

Super pumped about algorithms being in our own hands.

nostr:note13zma32jdkua7nml852ghxdhvvdjk5a72d8m079f2rjk02msyrh0s5tzgsn

Replying to Avatar miljan

Dust has finally settled on the “Primal censorship” drama. That’s good to see, but I don’t want to sweep this episode under the rug. It is probably appropriate to do a post mortem, assess what has happened and see what we can learn. Let’s make sure that Nostr is a better place after this episode.

Two weeks ago, Primal’s trending algorithm was attacked by bots. The attacker generated hundreds of thousands of reactions, propping his note to the top of our trending feed. At the time, our only defence was a simple “can’t trend” list, so we put the attacker on it. He immediately posted on Nostr, accusing us of censorship, but his note never took off. The attacker then selected a few well liked Nostr accounts and started stuffing the ballot box for them. We saw a bunch of bogus notes with massive bot engagement, so we resorted to the only blunt tool we had. The attacker jumped on the opportunity to publicize the fact that some well liked accounts were being suppressed on Primal and accused us of “shadowbanning”. The whole thing exploded on Nostr.

What followed was a pretty tough week for Primal. Many of our users turned against us. They took the idea of shadowbanning seriously, as they should. Most feedback was in good spirits, people making fun of Primal via memes. But we also got a fair bit of hate from complete strangers, which was super-weird. All in all, Nostr users were clear about what they think of censorship. This was the Nostr immune system reacting. Being on the receiving end of it really sucked, but still it’s beautiful to see!

The crazy part is that those “shadowbanned” accounts were actually perfectly visible throughout the entire Primal site. They had *exactly* the same level of visibility as they do on Damus, Snort, Coracle, and other Nostr clients. They just couldn’t show up in our trending bar. I tried to explain, but there was little room for nuance with the drama in full swing.

So we decided to disengage temporarily, focus on building, and let our product do the talking. We made our trending algorithm more resistant to bots and removed everyone from the “can’t trend” list. We also built a new content moderation system for Nostr, giving complete control to the user. This is our best take on how to do content moderation on such a radically open network. I cover the features and our reasoning in my blog post below.

So Primal is strictly a better product after this episode. But what about Nostr itself?

Attacks can be useful. While they disrupt our systems and really suck for us and our users, they do force us to improve and become more competent at operating in an adversarial environment. However, we should be careful about making it socially acceptable for Nostr devs to attack other projects in broad daylight. That’s not the most productive way to collaborate. It also creates weird vibes which I think we don’t want here. Nostr is in its infancy and the way we act will set the tone for things to come. There is so much to build and we are all working as fast as we can. At Primal we build open source software and run services for Nostr. If you don’t like the way something works, fork it and do your own thing. If you want to contribute, we accept PRs. If you have found a vulnerability, there are multiple good ways to disclose it.

As for Nostr users, I think you all reacted perfectly. Push back hard at any whiff of censorship. When in doubt, mercilessly create memes, point out things that are wrong, and don’t let up. Even if the target is Primal.

If Primal is real, it can stand the pressure. 🤙💜

https://habla.news/u/miljan@primal.net/1693416828339

nostr:note13zma32jdkua7nml852ghxdhvvdjk5a72d8m079f2rjk02msyrh0s5tzgsn