There's no such thing as a stupid question. I believed that. I really did. Then I onboarded my buddy to Nostr. **Minute 1:** "So what's my username?" It's npub1 followed by 59 random characters. "Cool. How do people find me?" They don't, Kevin. **Minute 4:** "What's this nsec thing?" Your private key. Never share it with anyone. Ever. "Got it. I texted it to you so you'd have a backup." **Minute 8:** "Okay, so what's the password reset process?" There isn't one. "That's not very professional." **Minute 12:** "Which relay is the main one?" There isn't one. "So who's in charge?" Nobody. "Who do I report bugs to?" Reality. **Minute 15:** "Why did a stranger just send me 21 sats?" That's a zap. He liked your post. "My post just says 'test.'" Yes. Frankly, it's one of the better posts today. **Minute 19:** "Why is everyone obsessed with Bitcoin?" That's actually one of the less weird things you'll see. **Minute 23:** "Why is every profile picture a frog, a goat, a guy holding a fish, a guy with a rifle, or a guy holding a goat while holding a fish?" I didn't have an answer for that one. **Minute 28:** "This guy's bio says he's building the future." What's he building? "No idea." Correct. **Minute 33:** "Why does everyone know each other?" They don't. They just argue with the same 40 people every day. **Minute 37:** "Why is everyone on here so weird?" Kevin. You just spent 37 minutes learning how to use a censorship resistant decentralized social protocol so strangers can send you internet pennies for posting the word "test." Ask yourself that question again. Onboarding is difficult. You won't find Kevin here. Not because he couldn't figure it out.Because at some point I quietly decided that was the best possible outcome.

Replies (51)

Lol. I don't think the notes portion of Nostr is where we get the normies. Probably ever. And that's fine. I'd rather hang out with you weirdos anyway. Divine, Bitchat, maybe Marmot, perhaps Concord...heck maybe Birdstar. These are all some big maybes. And there's a case for longform notes being a solid Substack alternative. We don't need to purple pill the world. We need to maintain optionality and the means of communicating in the face of things like chat control and social media ID verification. It'd be cool if they come along and build what they want here too. I'd love to see the advertising panopticon starved. But if we can cultivate a place for people who want or need to get away to just be free, that's enough for me to call it a success. Honestly whichever of you that convinces the Reddit crowd to come here is going on my shitlist. Be warned.
> "Why is every profile picture a frog, a goat, a guy holding a fish, a guy with a rifle, or a guy holding a goat while holding a fish?" πŸ˜‚πŸ€£
Yeah, it was a failure from the so-called social Nostr influencers... Nostr is great for infrastructure, but for social media it's only useful if you have something relevant to say that needs censorship resistance. Otherwise, users who don't have much to contribute are useless, and they would be better off staying on a traditional social platform unless they need uncensored media and free speech.
B 's avatar
B 8 hours ago
Was β€œat some point” about minute 12? Damn relays, bugs, no one in charge! πŸ˜‚
pnk's avatar
pnk 7 hours ago
> Frankly, it's one of the better posts today. πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚
I think we need to focus on communities with the ability to pull in wider circles rather than throwing them into the deep end of nostr
B 's avatar
B 6 hours ago
Oof! 5?!! You need to up your arguing game! Here take some lessons from Monty Python.
I have enough people to argue with IRL. I just block people who want to argue to no end. Blocking coretards was a good move in that regard. Nostr is what you make of it. You are your own algorithm.
I convinced one guy to join. He was studying cyber security. I don't think it's possible to understand kind 1 nostr without some background in cyber security or applied cryptography. Kevin should try Divine.
Nostr is def a place for the geeks. I always try to imagine me trying to introduce my older Facebook (shudder) relatives to this platform and seeing the confused looks. I'll go as far as to say Bitcoin is also niche, although I'd like it to become mainstream. Maybe in time, decentralized will catch on with the masses. #nostr
Minute 41: "How do I log in on my laptop?" Same key. "Where do I get it?" From the text you sent me, Kevin. Which is now the backup.
"My post just says test." "Yes." "It's one of the better posts today." πŸ˜‚ Minute 15 is the real onboarding funnel β€” that first unexpected zap is what makes it click for most people. Did Kevin stick around after that?
↑