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Nostr

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Re: Nostr

#301

Post by nout »

bmicraft wrote: post #278
jonstaab wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My point is that question is sort of a category error. It's like asking what type of business the internet is for, or what the use case of smart phones is. Here are a few things built on nostr, with specific use cases: primal.net is a twitter-like client with bitcoin micropayments and long-form articles (also see coracle.social, nosotros.app, jumble.social, Amethyst, Damus, yakihonne.com and many others); zap.stream…

The question isnt a category error and deserves a direct answer. If I follow what you're saying the answer could have been: "it's a framework/set of protocols for building a Twitter that can show all the stuff on other compatible Google+/Facebooks"

If you have a preference for this style of definition, then we could say that

Nostr is a protocol that's well suited for creating decentralized applications that need publicly verifiable identity, censorship resistance and event based communication.

For example, https://zapstore.dev/app is an Android AppStore that uses nostr to provide a decentralized way to verify the developers and remove "fake" apps.

Re: Nostr

#302

Post by 1gn15 »

maxloh wrote: post #72
dbushell wrote: post #34

A big misconception I've seen is the assumption that Nostr relays are federated and share messages between one another. This is not how it works. So if you're building a "Twitter clone" the client app must search multiple relays and post to multiple relays. If clients are not using a relay in common they cannot see one another. The end result is a bad experience for both user and developer. Using a single relay is ce…

It is somehow misleading to feature a Twitter clone on the front page when Mastodon is a better way to achieve that. The protocol's real value lies in other use cases.

Nostr has a better UX than ActivityPub IMO, for the basic reason that you do not need to learn how to self-host a server or depend on an unaccountable admin that might shut down the server at any time. In Nostr, you just create an account and go!

The big issue is the lack of content, but that's a social problem, not a UX problem.

Re: Nostr

#303

Post by 1gn15 »

BinaryIgor wrote: post #220
jasonvorhe wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's quite common for people with rather controversial topics to have backup accounts listed in their bio because centralized platforms are so prone to deplatforming people. If that's acceptable to you, then nostr probably isn't for you. I prefer not to beg anyone for permission to publish my opinions on the internet.

Why not to have a website then? That's the only thing that where the content is truly Yours. In NOSTR, even though yes there is more than one relay, but you still need their permission to publish; and yes, you can run your own relay - but you might host your own website too - no need for new apps and protocols to do this

A few differences: you don't need to learn how to self-host (this is why centralized services became so popular in the first place), it's two-way communication, and the point about relays is that as long as just one allows you to publish (which is very likely, and even if there's none, you can host one yourself), you can publish.

Re: Nostr

#304

Post by kinakomochidayo »

msm_ wrote: post #282
Yizahi wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I'm not mistaken, running own Lightning node would mean opening channels to every single merchant you want to trade with AND those same merchants would need to open a symmetric channel back to you with the same amount of locked funds. And then during the transaction this system would need magically solve traveling salesman problem per each transaction in the system, taking into account that after each completed tr…

Wouldn't repeated block size increases lock out "normal people" from participating too? Hosting a local BTC node is already hard, and completely impractical on a mobile device.

Nope, because SSD/HDD tech has evolved in capacity while the costs have gone down.

Re: Nostr

#306

Post by nikolay »

Nostr is terrible! There are so many "standards," I'm not sure how they expect adoption. Compare them to Bluesky - which is much more complicated under the hood, but so easy to use! Just look at Gossip's settings - it's a nightmare!

Re: Nostr

#307

Post by BinaryIgor »

Cameri wrote: post #285
BinaryIgor wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes; and because your key is your identity, losing your key or having it stolen basically means that you have to start from scratch; there is no "I forgot my password" mechanism

For identities to be truly decentralized, there's no one you could run to to ask permission to change your password. Either you own your identity, or someone else does. Your identity, BinaryIgor only exists in ycombinator, and for as long as ycombinator allows it, and only ycombinator can allow you to change your password. I can't recall how accounts are created here, but likely it also depends on linking it to your…

My Nickname on Hacker News - yes; but I own this Identity on at least one more platform and my own website, so it's not that simple :) In general, I think given Identity is more about reputation and familiarity that you gain with people by doing or delivering something under particular name in one or multiple contexts/platforms

Re: Nostr

#308

Post by BinaryIgor »

athrowaway3z wrote: post #277
BinaryIgor wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes; and because your key is your identity, losing your key or having it stolen basically means that you have to start from scratch; there is no "I forgot my password" mechanism

I don't use nostr, but this is one of those really upsetting things where technical people are utterly blinded by their dogma. How did you register as BinaryIgor? You and ycombinator exchanged a pubkey. ycombinator registered theirs with a DNS register, while you threw yours away. ycombinator has 100% ownership over your identity. There is no way to prove to me you are you without ycombinator. Having ycombinator be y…

That's a fair point, but as I've pointed out above, I think that the question of Identity is much broader and more nuanced than just owning a set of keys or nicknames; if you're curious I've written about it here: https://binaryigor.com/centralized-vs-decentralized-identity...

Re: Nostr

#309

Post by BinaryIgor »

yellowapple wrote: post #294
BinaryIgor wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes; and because your key is your identity, losing your key or having it stolen basically means that you have to start from scratch; there is no "I forgot my password" mechanism

That's where I feel ATproto strikes the right balance: it's basically “What if Nostr but the identity lives on a potentially-self-hostable server instead of the client?”, avoiding that risk of “oh no I lost my private key” while still providing the means to control where one's identity lives and move elsewhere if necessary (even if the current server is uncooperative or no longer exists).

Isn't it centralized though, thus defeating the whole purpose?

Re: Nostr

#310

Post by agalush »

BinaryIgor wrote: post #209
digitalbase wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been working on a Quora/StackOverflow alternative (on top of Nostr). https://asknostr.site/ I hope this demonstrates how a distributed social protocol can solve many use cases and the advantage to the end-user: - do not get rugpulled by (VC backed) companies that own your data - receive zaps/money by contributing - data is truely available to everyone (but signed by author)

There are also tradeoffs: * relays can just go away - you don't have your data then * there is both user-friendly and secure way of managing your private keys; additionally, once your keys are gone, your identity is gone - there is no "I forgot my password" procedure

If you're worried about the durability of your contents, you can publish them on multiple relays, even self-hosted ones.

Also, events are just JSON content: you can easily dump them on your local storage and republish on another relay whenever you want.

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