Feature slop isn’t the answer. Don’t put words in my mouth, buddy. Algorithms would be a good first step. No one has achieved it. Even if it was relay-side…

We need like 3 to 5 more features tops. I just don’t know why there’s a market mismatch in signals from devs, & users.

just adding algos will still not make people aware we exist or attract new users. existing platforms already have much better algos. They still need a reason to switch

Selling something not worth switching too won’t end well. We have no algos. It’s the obvious elephant in the room. Everyone needs to wake up.

What ever happened to an interface for paying relays in the app? Zaps going to relays? None of it ever manifested in Damus, despite you discussing it years ago. These funds can feed a free market of algorithms. X is paid for almost all highly active users now. That funding could be coming here.

what does that have anything to do with bringing users in. paying relays has zero impact on anything. Have you lost your mind?

Have I lost my mind? Really?… Users don’t want chron feeds. You are competing with algorithms that are tuned to the reward system. Those aren’t going to be ran by relays for free. Are you blind?

How many times has jack talked about the need for algorithm control and free will? People are producing shorts that literally predict how your brain will react, which is then sorted by a monstrous algorithm that feeds it to people based on their interests. This is a near drug-level influence. You can’t break those chains with a mere chron feed.

Can you add reach.

Users will join when they can see the value. Until then we keep doing what we can.

Membership management to relays can/should happen via DM’s. But nobody running a relay gives a shit tbh

I will be implementing this but I am also concerned that it will end up like those SMS UIs

Bad UX

The biggest risk imo is that it’s becoming impossible to know if your combination of client and relay(s) even supports the ability to DM someone anymore.

Ok I was on your side, but you are actually a bit silly aren’t you.

Websites actually work, at least

Indeed. It’s a shame we didn’t figure this out before DMs were irrevocably fractured

I’m trying out a memebership relay. It’s a click-to-join access for the next 6 days. It’s an experiment aimed at writers and readers of longform articles. But it can actually be replicated as anything. You can join here

Decent Newsroom

Essayist | Decent Newsroom

Decentralised Newsroom - the future of journalism

What kind of community would you like to join?

You're competing against social media companies with unlimited money. Users won't come unless they get banned or the social media goes bankrupt. Nostr will grow except it will grow slowly, exactly as Bitcoin did. Eventually the corporations will come in and help it grow with their unlimited money

More Features > Usually Never Enough Features > Scope Creep Consolidate the UX and polish. Easier said than done, but focus is what we need lol.

I don't understand this argument. People use A not B because A has a lot of X. Therefore B shouldn't add any X because A has more of it?

I just disagree we need to copy everything exactly to get users.

I certainly don’t think we should copy everything exactly. There are no real algorithms on nostr and I certainly don’t count primal. Another feature no one has solved is follower count in a trust-minimized way that is fast. I have a few ideas for how to solve follower count but am swamped with other things right now — will get to it after launch. Status (followers) and max discovery/dopamine (algorithms) are two huge blind spots of nostr. We all have our reservations about if followers and dopamine-excess is bad, but relevant content and status is a huge part of what keeps people hooked. These are ancient programs of neurobiology that have been funneled into technology after decades of refinement. Nostr isn’t even close. I’d rather people be hooked in a place like Nostr where they have freedom of choice about what algorithms they use, rather than behind walled-gardens that manipulate and farm their attention to advertisers for corporate or political motives. If we can’t stop the addiction to social media, we can at least let people choose what they want to consume.

If some structure would help, a framework for unpacking user preferences vs competition is - - Absolute Advantage - Relative Advantage - Parity Work out first where is your unfair absolute advantage that will attract users (when users are picking winners this is what they pick for), for Nostr that could be various things e.g. interoperability, easy DX, etc. Then work out where you must attain at least parity with competition so the user is able to switch (when users are stuck or face resistance to change, this is why). Colby, I think you're arguing that algos and follow counts are a parity need for social feeds.

It might even be that customise-your-own-algo could be an absolute advantage. But that seems harder to prove for now