Nostr.how – A Complete Guide to Nostr
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Re: Nostr.how – A Complete Guide to Nostr
#2If anyone is interested in trying out Nostr, I would recommend downloading Damus, the iOS client that’s currently available.
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/damus/id1628663131
It’s not perfect, but it feels a lot like the Twitter iOS client, and gives you an idea of what Nostr can become.
Re: Nostr.how – A Complete Guide to Nostr
#3The article doesn't support the claims of how nostr is better than mastodon.
From my quick glance at the site, it looks like relays are the equivalent to servers in mastodon, given that it's unclear why relay owners can't also ban you (as they suggest mastodon servers can ban you), why you can't post to multiple mastodon servers simultaneously (similar to broadcasting to multiple relays in nostr) and so on.
Nonetheless it's good to see the broader adoption of "account creation as equivalent to public/private key creation" in social media services
Re: Nostr.how – A Complete Guide to Nostr
#4The whole premise of Nostr is that you consider your access point hostile, yet its provider is still offering one. That contradiction just incentivizes bad and toxic actors to participate and dominate this network.
That's why, it seems, the developers actively conflate what one would expect from a private communication platform and a social media platform. But this isn't an alternative to Mastodon or Twitter, it's an alternative to Berty, Cwtch, Speek, Briar, Anonymous Messenger, and maybe Matrix if you use it for encrypted communication only.
It has a legitimate use case for people who may be forced to switch relays very often due to government censorship but still want to continue to talk in public. To anyone else the quality and culture of the moderation system is what defines the quality of their platform, but Nostr undermines the former by design.
As such, it comes to no surprise that the free speech warriors from the crypto community are the main drivers of this protocol. It's just a pity that Snowden seems to have become one of them as well - and it isn't that he supports it, but how. He's just repeating the devs' own flawed narrative.
Decentralization is the right path forward, but you want social media on federated platforms as you need to take care of communities with enforceable rules and provide a service to users, while for private interpersonal or group communication you can opt to federated or peer-to-peer networks.
Re: Nostr.how – A Complete Guide to Nostr
#5The whole premise of Nostr is that you consider your access point hostile, yet its provider is still offering one. That contradiction just incentivizes bad and toxic actors to participate and dominate this network. That's why, it seems, the developers actively conflate what one would expect from a private communication platform and a social media platform. But this isn't an alternative to Mastodon or Twitter, it's an…
> The whole premise of Nostr is that you consider your access point hostile, yet its provider is still offering one.
I'm confused. Doesn't this apply to a lot of projects offering hosting for E2EE services? Why should it be a problem?
Re: Nostr.how – A Complete Guide to Nostr
#6The article doesn't support the claims of how nostr is better than mastodon. From my quick glance at the site, it looks like relays are the equivalent to servers in mastodon, given that it's unclear why relay owners can't also ban you (as they suggest mastodon servers can ban you), why you can't post to multiple mastodon servers simultaneously (similar to broadcasting to multiple relays in nostr) and so on. Nonethele…
With Nostr, your identity isn't attached to a relay, so if one relay doesn't like you other relays will still relay your content, while still keeping your followerbase
Re: Nostr.how – A Complete Guide to Nostr
#7The whole premise of Nostr is that you consider your access point hostile, yet its provider is still offering one. That contradiction just incentivizes bad and toxic actors to participate and dominate this network. That's why, it seems, the developers actively conflate what one would expect from a private communication platform and a social media platform. But this isn't an alternative to Mastodon or Twitter, it's an…
I think centralized moderation is the problem with social media servers. Users should be the ones to control their own moderation. See a post you don't like? Hide the post. Don't like any posts from a particular user? Block the user. It's not difficult to do and if users are really only following friends and famous accounts (celebrities, bots, news, etc.) they won't experience much spam anyway.
I think the real issue is discovery. How does one find other accounts that post about similar topics (other than friend-of-a-friend approach) and that aren't spam.
Re: Nostr.how – A Complete Guide to Nostr
#8My previous Mastodon instance (mstdn.plus) broke this week, the administrator MIA, leaving 4500 active users including myself unable to move their followers to new instances or even archive their data: https://lapcatsoftware.com/articles/mastodon.html
Re: Nostr.how – A Complete Guide to Nostr
#9The whole premise of Nostr is that you consider your access point hostile, yet its provider is still offering one. That contradiction just incentivizes bad and toxic actors to participate and dominate this network. That's why, it seems, the developers actively conflate what one would expect from a private communication platform and a social media platform. But this isn't an alternative to Mastodon or Twitter, it's an…
> The whole premise of Nostr is that you consider your access point hostile, yet its provider is still offering one. I'm confused. Doesn't this apply to a lot of projects offering hosting for E2EE services? Why should it be a problem?
As I said in my post - if you read it - private communication and social media are not the same. The expectations are different. On a social media platform you want some level of persistence, you want someone to be able to nurture a healthy discussion culture.
But if all of your users were just fine, there are barely any advantages over a federated platform where you can migrate; much more disadvantages instead.
Re: Nostr.how – A Complete Guide to Nostr
#10My previous Mastodon instance (mstdn.plus) broke this week, the administrator MIA, leaving 4500 active users including myself unable to move their followers to new instances or even archive their data: https://lapcatsoftware.com/articles/mastodon.html
Mastodon is essentially centralized — you just pick who you trust with full centralized authority before they have a change of heart, fail, begin rent collecting, whatever.
Nobody seems to understand how difficult it is to make a system that can guarantee its neutrality within the protocol. (Sorry HN: it requires crypto.)