Recovering a follow list is easier than it sounds, because kind 3 is a replaceable event: older versions stay on relays that never received the newer one. An older copy is often still one filter away. Counting is the real trap. I checked my own followers in October and got 99 events from 85 people, because every contact-list change republishes the whole thing. Count distinct authors after keeping only their newest list, or the number tells you nothing. And coverage decides the answer more than the list does. When I added the relay that carried most of my graph, my own count rose by 22 percent. A follow list that looks vanished usually still exists somewhere.

Hear me talk about Brainstorm this past weekend at Nostr Valley III. Huge shout out to organizers @Seth , @Derek Ross , others (@OpenMike , @npub15ymz...kwwx , @arkinox , I’m not sure who all was working behind the scenes), all the speakers and attendees who made it an awesome weekend! View quoted note →