protocol VS nostr

We have already have a clear stack. there's Gitcoin Passport for sybil resistance, git (and wrappers like Radicle) for version control, Lit PKPs & Gelato for account abstraction, Farcaster/Orbis/Lens for social architecture, OpenStreetMaps for geographic markets, OPStack, etc.

These services exist outside of the protocol and depend on a few centralized and trusted authorities.

Another solution that is arguably more resistant to capture and censorship would be to use a blockchain to manage user name aliases - like Farcaster is doing with fnames.[1]

[1] https://github.com/farcasterxyz/protocol#22-farcaster-names

one XMPP server gets big and usernames get squatted and dealt with at the discretion of the server admin.

Only solution is something like how Farcaster does it

https://github.com/farcasterxyz/protocol#3-identity

That's sad to hear, but it makes total sense to shut down the server given its sensitive data, rather than hand it off to another person.

Mastodon/ActivityPub is a poor fit for a social network IMHO.

- Accounts should not be tied a single server and their continued maintenance.

- Private data and DMs should be end-to-end encrypted rather than entrusted with a single administrator.

- People don't want to self-host.

The core problem of a lot of social networks comes down to name aliasing, and who controls the name registry. In the case of nostr[1] this is not a problem because everything is using public keys. Another protocol is Farcaster[2] which plans to use a smart contract to maintain a name registry without requiring a single controller.

[1] https://github.com/nostr-protocol/nostr

[2] https://github.com/farcasterxyz/protocol

Some resources if you're interested in learning more: https://nostr.com/ https://ron.stoner.com/nostr_Security_and_Privacy https://github.com/nostr-protocol/nostr/ https://nostorg.github.io/clients/

I think your best bet here is Nostr (Notes and Other Stuff Transmitted by Relays): https://nostr.com https://github.com/nostr-protocol/nostr

Nostr isn't a federated platform like Mastodon or Lemmy, it's more similar to the AT protocol created by Bluesky, whilst being far simpler to understand and write apps using it. The nostr protocol is defined by a series of NIPs (Nostr implementation possibilites https://github.com/nostr-protocol/nips), the most basic of which can be implemented in a client or a relay in 50-100 lines of code in any modern programming language.

Each user runs a client, anyone can write a relay or run any of hundreds of existing implementations, both clients and relays can choose to support a number of NIPs. Users have a public-private keypair, and distribute notes to relays signed with their private key, which are verified by relays. Clients subscribe via websockets to any number of relays (I usually have 20-30), and receive notes from all users on those relays' databases, or filtered by the public keys of the users you're following. Relays for the most part don't communicate with each other. If you're ever blocked or banned from a relay, you'll still be able to have your notes seen as long as you have at least one relay in common with anyone who wants to see them. I run my own as well for extra resiliency.

At the moment there's ~50 standardised NIPs, which add features like likes, zaps (bitcoin tips for notes), user status, post expiration, mentions, search, DMs, and public chats. Nearly all of these are supported by popular clients and relays. While nostr is primarily used for social media at the moment, it's already possible to build upon as a protocol for pretty much any online service.

The total active user count on most public relays I'd estimate is somewhere around 500k to a million, though the nature of the protocol makes it impossible to estimate its true size. The perceived community on most relays before following anyone frankly can get pretty cancerous, mainly due to a lot of clients sorting notes by new by default, so I can only hope to high heaven it'll improve as it grows.

Though like any new non-centralised platform, it's more difficult to get started on for most non-technical users as they have to pick one of hundreds of clients to install, and requires caution to never leak your private key and be very wary of which clients you trust it with.

I hope this was not too technical and all over the place. If you are interested in knowing more please ask me or check out https://github.com/nostr-protocol/nostr or https://nostr.com/get-started

Without movement on this [1] I can't see adoption.

[1] https://github.com/nostr-protocol/nostr/issues/97

I think the next stage is decentralized social media. Something like nostr (1) where there’s no centralized entity determining the algorithm to boost. It’s up to the individual to follow users.

Perhaps the next challenge would be human verification, even with this protocol we’d need something to index public people by to handle discovery.

Even before LLM’s became as mainstream as they are, most social media platforms were riddled with spam: affiliate marketing, drop shipping crap, and people who are running some sort of con.

1 - https://github.com/nostr-protocol/nostr already has 8k stars on github

Considering that Reddit might not be able to negotiate better pricing for API usage, it's worth considering a different approach. The future of social media seems to be moving towards protocols rather than specific platforms. This means that instead of relying on a single platform like Reddit, Apollo should focus on using a protocol called NOSTR (you can find more information at https://github.com/nostr-protocol/nostr).

Holding me back from posting updates of what I had for breakfast is the problem of private key sharing with services that I can use in order to post updates of what I had for breakfast.

A client or service will inevitably be compromised. And with it, the private keys of all using it whether stored by the service or logged on entry by a compromised system.

Private keys should be chained, master->subkey, with subkey the public key of the service __or a solution like that or that ends in the same result. When (not if) a service or key is compromised, the key can be blacklisted and/or any key co-signed by a compromised service blacklisted.

I'm confused by the oversight. It's also been raised here https://github.com/nostr-protocol/nostr/issues/97

Until then, I'll have to keep my updates of what I had for breakfast to myself.