Bitcoin Forum

Meet the Bitcoiners on the new "decentralized twitter" - nostr

nostr stands for “Notes and Other Stuff Transmitted by Relays” and is an open protocol for censorship-resistant global networks.
nostr is a decentralized network based on cryptographic keypairs and that is not peer-to-peer, it is super simple and scalable and therefore has a chance of working.

https://www.nostr.net
https://nostr.com (some nostr projects)
https://github.com/nostr-protocol/nostr

As it is decentralized, it is an interesting social network among Bitcoiners and some are already testing their skills there:

@jack  82341f882b6eabcd2ba7f1ef90aad961cf074af15b9ef44a09f9d2a8fbfbe6a2
@LOPP  f728d9e6e7048358e70930f5ca64b097770d989ccd86854fe618eda9c8a38106
@ODELL  04c915daefee38317fa734444acee390a8269fe5810b2241e5e6dd343dfbecc9
@jack mallers  c4eabae1be3cf657bc1855ee05e69de9f059cb7a059227168b80b89761cbc4e0
@saylor (MicroStrategy)  a341f45ff9758f570a21b000c17d4e53a3a497c8397f26c0e6d61e5acffc7a98
...
and others (after you join one, you can see all followers of them and find others)

If you join, don't expect too much. It is like Bitcoin 0.1 ...  :)

Twitter Deletes Tweets, Web Page About Ban on Links to Rival Social Networks
https://me.pcmag.com/en/social-media-1/14103/twitter-deletes-tweets-web-page-about-ban-on-links-to-rival-social-networks (https://me.pcmag.com/en/social-media-1/14103/twitter-deletes-tweets-web-page-about-ban-on-links-to-rival-social-networks)

Jack Dorsey, meanwhile, has been tweeting links to Nostr after calling for a more open alternative to social networks like Twitter. There's no word on if Twitter plans to suspend its co-founder and former CEO. (On Twitter, Dorsey responded "Why?" to Twitter's initial tweet about the ban, adding "doesn’t make sense" in response to a tweet about Twitter banning Nostr promotion.)

On Twitter, Musk says that “casually sharing occasional links is fine, but no more relentless advertising of competitors for free, which is absurd in the extreme.” But neither he nor Twitter explain what “relentless” or “casually” mean in this context. And since Twitter says the platform will remove “content that contains links or usernames” for the social networks it has singled out, the new policy is causing confusion, to say the least.


On nostr nobody can ban you, nobody can delete your posts.


Bitcoin & nostr = the future

Is it? Usually bitcoiners are not so lenient about closed source software specially one that posts stuff on github but doesn't include any source code (has only binaries) since such projects look extra shady.

https://thebitcoinmanual.com/articles/what-is-nostr/ (https://thebitcoinmanual.com/articles/what-is-nostr/)
What is Nostr?

Nostr is an open-source project and protocol built around the concept of self-owned account data and identities. Allowing individuals to host and broadcast their own data with the help of private and public key pairings. The Nostr protocol, along with the decentralised identification, enables websites and internet applications to access this data by request of the user to create ‘decentralized’ social networks and cross-site interoperability.

https://twitter.com/mattdesl/status/1577385222265573378 (https://twitter.com/mattdesl/status/1577385222265573378)
nostr is a new and highly experimental decentralized open source social messaging protocol, currently in development


One thing to make abundantly clear: Nostr is a protocol. It’s a set of rules that servers and clients use to communicate (just like Bitcoin, email or Bittorrent). Nostr is not an app nor a “platform” (like Twitter, Facebook, etc.), but many applications can be built on top of Nostr. So of course there will be software that is not open source but uses that open protocol like Bitcoin wallet software (other than Bitcoin Core) that has only binaries.

Discovered nostr yesterday, but will check further.

After going from link to link I've stumbled upon this one, which might be the source code for nostr console app. I don't know Dart and didn't really look into those files, so maybe somebody else can confirm:
https://github.com/vishalxl/nostr_console


Um... I have a feeling that bitcointalk is just fine for many bitcoiners. So why bother with nostr?

Yes, you're right. I meant if someone uses twitter too.

I came across nostr after seeing a tweet but at the moment I find it very immature and also quite complex especially if you want to let people with little technical skills use it, so I see it as a very restricted circle of users.  Another thing though that I don't think is appropriate for a social network is why I can't delete my post, why ?  I would never use a social network if I can't edit and delete...this is not Bitcoin man.

Bitcoin was the same at that time it was published. It was difficult for non-tech people to run it.



We have nostr 0.1. Tell your proposals and it will be discussed. Yesterday, someone mentioned that "delete - edit" possibility.

I have also been following up with the site lately but I don't have an account there yet, it looks quite appealing but needs a lot of developments to make it stand up to Twitter in terms of features.

But since most are decentralized, that makes it more secure for users who are looking for freedom on social media s since most of the other competitors like Twitter and Facebook are highly centralized.

But for me am just fine with this forum.

I see that the concept you are offering is quite interesting, where you unite social media such as Twitter and a decentralized system in one place. That's pretty good. Because it seems that everyone will be able to socialize without worrying about censorship or interference and all users can voice their opinion about the platform.

But the question is how do you run a platform with a decentralized system? do you guys really let users do as they please? if you let that, does that mean your platform has the opportunity to be filled with toxic users? and how do you overcome this?

This does seem to be an interesting project that a lot of the right people seem to be supporting. I haven’t had time to dive in and check it out yet, but it’s on the list of things to do. I’ve seen some things on twitter that make it look like what Twitter wants to be for payments, only with decentralized wallets. I know only what I’ve seen on social media thus far though…

How will you make nostr more accessible though? If the market target changes to your average joe, I think it won't be easy to encourage them to run their own relay, client, etc. What I can expect is another web/project that acts as a centralized social media platform that uses nostr as its backbone. This does not make the project loses its value though, just that the goal probably won't be achieved.

The idea is promising IMO, but mainstream users probably won't use it (those who don't use crypto too often, for example). Probably not a downside but anyone planning to build or run a project using this platform should consider that. I've seen lots of projects that has interesting use cases like jester, so I'll keep following this.

Some tips & tricks for nostr newcomers: https://uselessshit.co/resources/nostr ;) Trying to keep this up to date.

Thanks, edited the 1st post  :)

Thanks! 🤙

I will try this tomorrow.

I wanted to open a twitter account, but I have the feeling that I will have to migrate to another platform sooner or later.
I've read a lot of good things about nostr, but it looks highly controversial. I want to make my own opinion

I am sure they will be able to include an edit function, but they might not want to have a delete option at all. If you are advertising something as censorship-resistant that doesn't have a centralized authority that decides what is acceptable and what isn't, there shouldn't be a way to delete posts.

Hive and Steemit function in the same way if I am not wrong. If you want to get rid of your content, edit it. Better yet, think about the stuff you post before you post it because the internet is forever, whether there is a delete button or not.   

 fiatjaf is a good dev he's done a lot of good LN stuff, and we got acquainted when microlancer was coming out.
at the surface I didn't care about nostr until I started seeing his name all over it.
then I got to looking and I don't see what all the hypes about, at least not yet.
Its like steemit but more chaotic.

Hello,

Someone who follows us could update us on how the project is going? What are the main issues? Scalability? Lack of client development? Lack of relays?

Thanks in advanced

Nostr is just fine but it lacks users like you and me! So if you want to help grow it, you should join the platform and invite your friends to go there too.

I'm in. I tried a client and didn't work well, I'll keep trying.
Cheers!