Nostr is an inclusive communication commons • Hacker News Board

Re: Nostr is an inclusive communication commons

#41

Post by digitalbase » Tue, Aug 25, 2026, 7:59 AM UTC

treyd wrote: post #4

The thing with Nostr is that the protocol spec expressly forbids relays from forwarding messages to each other. What this means is that users trying to reach each other need to shotgun messages to many relays, or congregate around specific ones. User profile data will list the relays they listen on, but this suffers from the problem of sticky defaults and makes client authors the kingmakers. There's lots of centraliz…

What the hell are you talking about? What forbids?

The idea of nostr is that you can do whatever the you like. An open protocol. There is no forbidding of anything

Re: Nostr is an inclusive communication commons

#42

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Aug 25, 2026, 8:03 AM UTC

KetoManx64 wrote: post #22

monkeywork wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From what I've gathered it's pro-censorship however since the user is entirely mobile and can change relays at will without friction that the power still remains with the user... the relay doesn't have much power in anything they can't keep their users from finding you, and they can't keep you from publishing elsewhere they can only choose to not accept your posts. When I setup my account I list 3-4 relays that will…

Which is the point of free speech, right? You should have the ability to say whatever you want, people just don't have to listen to you or be around you.

[deleted]

Re: Nostr is an inclusive communication commons

#43

Post by sharperguy » Tue, Aug 25, 2026, 8:03 AM UTC

FreeTrade wrote: post #34

I tried very hard to develop for Nostr with the idea it was an inclusive communication commons. Turns out it was a Lightning Network payments promotion project. All of its users (aside from its creator) were very much more interested in Lightning than in Nostr. Dismal experience, still bitter about the effort I wasted on it.

I honestly think it would be completely legit to build a completely separate ecosystem on top of the same protocol. A separate set of relays, separate apps which connect to those relays by default, no lighting payments, different defaults, marketed to a different audience. Ultimately it is not just a single network. If users need interoperability eventually they can easily add other relays. But it's true that many people are put off by the current community.

Re: Nostr is an inclusive communication commons

#44

Post by littlecranky67 » Tue, Aug 25, 2026, 8:04 AM UTC

mw888 wrote: post #37

nunobrito wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What "awkward" coordination? Clients fetch updates from whatever servers they follow. Same thing with email that you've been using for decades, doesn't get simpler than that.

Email requires a message to reach a specific, limited set of participants. Nostr is a public forum, which means an unbounded number of participants who can engage. Ordering a conversation between an unbounded set across independent nodes leads to misordered interactions not possible if you just centralize. It seems like a small issue, but at scale quality really suffers when some universal, fine-resolution ordering c…

> Nostr is a public forum, which means an unbounded number of participants who can engage.

Thats why you layer encryption on top of that to restrict the audience to whatever you intend. And yes, traitors in your audience can rebroadcast unencrypted versions of your encrypted one - that is the equivalence of a person reposting a private whatsapp chat on instagram.

Re: Nostr is an inclusive communication commons

#45

Post by kinakomochidayo » Tue, Aug 25, 2026, 8:05 AM UTC

FreeTrade wrote: post #34

I tried very hard to develop for Nostr with the idea it was an inclusive communication commons. Turns out it was a Lightning Network payments promotion project. All of its users (aside from its creator) were very much more interested in Lightning than in Nostr. Dismal experience, still bitter about the effort I wasted on it.

Yup, it’s basically a gigantic bitcoin maxi lightning promotion project.

Re: Nostr is an inclusive communication commons

#46

Post by dgellow » Tue, Aug 25, 2026, 8:06 AM UTC

KetoManx64 wrote: post #22

monkeywork wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From what I've gathered it's pro-censorship however since the user is entirely mobile and can change relays at will without friction that the power still remains with the user... the relay doesn't have much power in anything they can't keep their users from finding you, and they can't keep you from publishing elsewhere they can only choose to not accept your posts. When I setup my account I list 3-4 relays that will…

Which is the point of free speech, right? You should have the ability to say whatever you want, people just don't have to listen to you or be around you.

It doesn’t feel that nostr has a good understanding of what free speech and censorship mean

Re: Nostr is an inclusive communication commons

#47

Post by maeln » Tue, Aug 25, 2026, 8:07 AM UTC

donpdonp wrote: post #35

for those simply looking to try nostr for the first time, https://iris.to is a great way to get started.

Took a look and when I got there, the first post was about bitcoin, the second was an add for a cryptocurrency app, the next one was about nostr and bitcoin. The fourth was actually unrelated to either ! But then it was crypto or nostr again. Terrible way to make a first impression (unless you are into crypto I suppose).

Re: Nostr is an inclusive communication commons

#48

Post by exabyte » Tue, Aug 25, 2026, 8:08 AM UTC

FreeTrade wrote: post #34

I tried very hard to develop for Nostr with the idea it was an inclusive communication commons. Turns out it was a Lightning Network payments promotion project. All of its users (aside from its creator) were very much more interested in Lightning than in Nostr. Dismal experience, still bitter about the effort I wasted on it.

NOSTR is a protocol so there's no entity for you to be bitter with... You can be annoyed at the people who were on there, but that's a different subject. There's probably a better analogy than this, but what you're describing would be like playing soccer and being annoyed that your teammates are furries. Go find another team to play with.

Re: Nostr is an inclusive communication commons

#49

Post by littlecranky67 » Tue, Aug 25, 2026, 8:09 AM UTC

synctext wrote: post #33

john_owl wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just like a RSS feed client or a podcast client that connects to multiple feeds to update your timeline.

> decentralization of power Insightful! We struggle with containing true decentralised protocols like BGP, Bittorrent, and Bitcoin. Email, RSS, and also Nostr are too simple. The core protocol does not contain any measures against spam, abuse and fraud. No accountability. Just launch a million fake identities and spam these network. Your Internet address got blocked? Try the a16z-funded startup that uses a USA-based…

the main method against spam in Nostr is probably lightning. You can simply attach sats that are worth a couple cents to the content. Note that lightning has the concept of hold invoices so the receiver may or may not chose to actually claim the money. I.e. your friends and family will always attach 50cents to a message, knowing that you will never claim it anyway. If a spammer attaches 50cents to a message, the recipients will claim it and the spammer looses.

This is where we are headed in the AI age without Nostr/Bitcoin anyway. On some sites like youtube it has already become impossible to separate spam bots fom real comments. Agents that remote control users real browser instances and post AI slop all over the network will bring spam to another level. Attaching some money to whatever you post will actually be usefull to separate spam from real content.

Re: Nostr is an inclusive communication commons

#50

Post by littlecranky67 » Tue, Aug 25, 2026, 8:18 AM UTC

FreeTrade wrote: post #34

I tried very hard to develop for Nostr with the idea it was an inclusive communication commons. Turns out it was a Lightning Network payments promotion project. All of its users (aside from its creator) were very much more interested in Lightning than in Nostr. Dismal experience, still bitter about the effort I wasted on it.

You can't blame the protocol for the user it attracts. It is in early development. Just imagine the year is 1996 and you are complaining that WWW, IRC and the USENET is full of male tech nerds with a STEM background and a taste in SciFi/Fantasy culture. It will take some a while for the evolution to happen until you can get your beauty and makeup styling content.