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Nostr

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Re: Nostr

#91

Post by benrutter »

nunobrito wrote: post #48
benrutter wrote: post #23

Hope this doesn't come accross as rhetorical, it's a genuine question! Nostr users, how does this differ in your experience from Mastodon? At first glance it seems like the same idea but with the extra ingredient of blockchain, I'm not sure what this adds though, anonymity?

First of all there is some confusion because blockchain doesn't play a role here. You start by creating a pair of public/private keys. That is your "account" but is independent from everything else (e.g. not tied to any specific tool nor web service). Then you create texts (notes) which are digitally signed with your private key. Using the public key anyone can verify it was you writing it and nobody else. There is n…

Ahhh, that's a helpful explanation, thanks!

So with Nostr - it's decentralised to the point that I'm (me the user) the individual point that's sending et, rather than Mastodon which is decentralised less such that there's multiple servers with many users.

Re: Nostr

#92

Post by t1E9mE7JTRjf »

goodpoint wrote: post #75
t1E9mE7JTRjf wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would interpret it as anyone is welcome. The only barrier to entry is an internet connection, and even that is needed for just part of your experience. I'd guess it's context is the censorship seen in the last decade on most social media platforms.

> I would interpret it as anyone is welcome. ...which is a very much a political statement.

Is there a point you're making, or question?

Re: Nostr

#93

Post by seymon »

Is there any concept of private key rotation or something else? In case a client with a nostr key on it got compromised or something similar? With a traditional password passed logins I would just set a new password from another machine. Regeneration of a new nostr key would mean it's a new account isn't it?

Re: Nostr

#94

Post by [deleted] »

vincnetas wrote: post #63
thrownawaysz wrote: post #58

>apolitical communication commons Some people say that labeling yourself apolitical is 1, a polticial statement 2, a privilege itself which puts you into a certain socio-political position

whats up with people being afraid of being political. its your duty as citizen to be political. in ancient grece apolotical people were called "idiots". literally thats the origin of the word.

[deleted]

Re: Nostr

#95

Post by nunobrito »

iberator wrote: post #84

How does it differ from the Freenet[1] project? AFIK Freenet is the only truly resilient anonymous network that lasted +20 years without literally a single successful attack by the state actor. It's like RAID over the internet over encryption with global replication of data. Amazing project for PHD thesis lol 1: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyphanet

Both things serve different purposes.

Imagine it this way, freenet needs electricity and servers to keep running. NOSTR messages can be printed in paper (handwritten even) and you'd still be able to verify it belongs to a specific person.

Basically freenet builds a network for communication (roads) but NOSTR is only about messages (cars) and doesn't really care about which road is using.

There is no centralization because there is no coordination. There is not even knowledge of what can be happening elsewhere because these messages might not even be using internet to be shared (e.g. radio or paper messages)

On the other side this is what makes it so powerful. You can download the full set of text messages from someone into your disk, that disk be found centuries later and digital archaeologists could easily read the contents because it is plain text.

So it isn't competing against freenet, it will use it very happily when available as option.

Re: Nostr

#96

Post by N-Krause »

goodpoint wrote: post #75
t1E9mE7JTRjf wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would interpret it as anyone is welcome. The only barrier to entry is an internet connection, and even that is needed for just part of your experience. I'd guess it's context is the censorship seen in the last decade on most social media platforms.

> I would interpret it as anyone is welcome. ...which is a very much a political statement.

"Welcome" is in the eye of the beholder. Everyone can join, but I am sure as it is also with our real worldwide community, not everyone is welcome or is accepted equally.

But the point is, nostr does not intent to judge that. It happens automatically while communicating. Nostr is just the means to communicate.

Re: Nostr

#97

Post by logicchains »

One potential positive of the recent censorship and deplatforming targeting the left is that it may accelerate the development of censorship-resistant platforms like Nostr, given the left has far more technologists than the right.

Re: Nostr

#98

Post by throwaway290 »

nunobrito wrote: post #82
stonogo wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Happy to help. Step 1: In 2023, notice a crypto spam post on Mastodon with a weird account name. Step 2: Look up what could have made that post, which was bridged from some other service. Step 3: Set up a key, grab a client (I used a web client that deployed to Netlify's free tier). Step 4: Follow some howtos, add relays, follow some accounts that repeat other accounts, try to figure out how discovery works. Step 5:…

Come on, so much effort writing and yet so vague. The easiest way to try NOSTR is using any of the common web platforms like https://primal.net or https://yakihonne.com/ Heck, you can even install NOSTR clients directly from the App and Play store since years. It is very unbelievable that you followed such a complicated process, even went to effort of deploying to a server (what?!?) and then somehow you see disturbin…

Do you really think somebody would try out a new platform 2 years ago, immediately drop it due to shady stuff and remember all the non trivial steps involved in this process?

> you can even install NOSTR clients directly from the App and Play store since years

Since feb 2023, apparently;)

Re: Nostr

#99

Post by Karrot_Kream »

anon1395 wrote: post #16
littlecranky67 wrote: post #14

Glad to see Nostr on top of HN. It is in its infancy, but Nostr allows for "zapps" (basically sending instant micropayments via bitcoin-lightning) - so instead of using ads and dubious algorithms, you can show your appreciation to content creators by small payments. This is a model for an ad-free, decentralized social media system.

Bitcoin is regulated as hell

Only for tax purposes in the US. If you're worried that your speech will be censored by the government (importantly: corporate social media can censor you on their platforms but can't censor your BTC usage in most developed countries), then declaring BTC for tax purposes is probably the least of your worries in most places.

Re: Nostr

#100

Post by numpad0 »

benrutter wrote: post #23

Hope this doesn't come accross as rhetorical, it's a genuine question! Nostr users, how does this differ in your experience from Mastodon? At first glance it seems like the same idea but with the extra ingredient of blockchain, I'm not sure what this adds though, anonymity?

Last time I checked(years ago), it was like Mastodon but there are only dozen servers, and posting once in standard clients post it on all servers. Everything is a tweet, and servers serve you contents based on what it remembers about you. The core principle is that bans and refusals by server operators are at best customary since users can receive the same information elsewhere, even transparently.

Though, they did happily filter Macau casino spams flooding the system, so I wouldn't be so sure. Workload of posting to and receiving from dozen servers was also not trivial when I was trying it out, and architecture changes to reduce duplicates and/or syncing databases across hosts were actively discussed. I guess those works were never completed judging by comments here?

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