onboarding is somehow getting way worse. we're stopping all new new feature dev to focus our onboarding experience. we're not going to win if people give up before they even start.
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-broken buttons
-gibberish npub123..
-load times
-entire discoverability experience
yes there are many things, we had an hour long meeting about it and identified like 5+ pain points that we are going to be working on.
Biggest one is cold-start cache and having no profiles to search for. We're going to look into a profile precache of all of the users on the network. Should be pretty small and should work well until we get much larger.
Another one is the QR code experience, damus QR code scanning is janky and downright broken at times. We were looking into ways to load more profile data through the nprofile, even without and internet connection.
Profile picture and banner optimization, a lot of profile data fails to load on bad connections because things are not optimized across the board.
Onboarding checklist to guide users to set up missing things.
Lots more
Yes. This is often overlooked. But the number 1 complaint I have always heard on any platform I've managed is "I can't log in".
Ah I see. I was wondering if maybe eg has nip05 become an important factor? Joining a paid relay? Maybe not now that the spambots are away (for now).
Cos that would be very tricky added onboarding experience problems, for people on zero sats, people totally unaware of lightning. (ie people who have no come from bitcointwitter).
Number one complaint I’ve heard is that new accounts appear blank and can’t follow people. Nostr account creation and propagation is bugged. Need DHT badly.
is it just me getting a lot of iphone storage space taken up from damus?
sometimes I forget to empty the cache and it starts filling up again, can get pretty large 
Interesting thanks. It's always curious to see what is going on behind the curtains:)
Lol why does this sound familiar
This is the main thing we are going to be focused on fixing
because its a continuous thing that needs improving
Wanna come back to help? 😜🥰💜 we mentioned you in the call Monday
I like the app a lot. But yeah if you don’t have a background I can see it being a challenge.
I’m still wondering why I get push notifications for an nsec I’m not logged in with (iOS)??
@Daniel D’Aquino don’t we disable push on logout?
The opening “who to follow” has been stale since it started & i have to close it every time i open the app
you likely have the developer mode option enabled to always show onboarding?
Nah no more freebees
I’ll persevere with it for a bit longer
💜
Indeed i did, Thanks. Is it algo controled? It never recommended anyone new
It’s really basic, just a fixed list. We would love to improve it if anyone wanted to take a stab at something better.
This makes a lot of sense. Normies don’t want ANY barriers
Absolutely.. as long as new arrivals are aware of #nostrPhilosophy
#nostrPhilosophy ..
Something like #unixPhilosophy .. please fork , respond , comment , change .. but think ..
- #nostr values #anonymity - no #KYC ...over #privacy .. .. Privacy is your own responsibility! Like #bitcoin every event is open and public.
- #notes are digitally signed .. no guarantee of deletion .
- All content is implicitly -openSource , because the entire stack is open ..
- #nostr doesn't believe in donations or tips .. it is a "value for value" platform.
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I could create an ideal formula but coding does not come from these fingers unless its stealing bits of htlm
Add gif buddy plz ☺
this is great news. people don’t want to follow a bunch of people they don’t know and then have to figure out how to remove them. they just go elsewhere.
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Good move. I’d gladly delay QoL improvements if it meant diverting those resources to onboarding upgrades.
Try to clear cache in app. Settings -> appearance.
Its a somewhat manual process for now.
Right. The income is still very hard for better adoption.
It took me a week to get nostr to work. Almost gave up myself
DHT maxxing
Yes, solid features and better experience, starting from the onboarding, I'm just working on this.
FTW
That all sounds great 👍🏼
Most of the recommended profiles are really trash 😂
i think onboarding should be a lot simpler
- generate secret in the background
- present the user with 'best content' on nostr like flowers, scenery pics, popular accounts
- allow user to browse more hash tags
- if user starts following people then remind that he should backup keys if he wants to continue using this account
- periodically remind to save a username if he hasnt done so
- remind the user to have an #introductions post to be welcomed
i guess this could be called lazy onboarding / gradual engagement / soft signup. the idea is dont overwhelm user with nostr technicalities
Idea 💡
- design onboarding experience as close as it gets to real life (when arriving at a new community/place; specifics would be determined by the vision behind Damus)
- prioritize connection
- have @damus official account be ran by humans who love other humans (guides, mentors, teachers), after first prompt (ie automatic personal first DM guiding)
- have @damus extend a step by step exploration of the app environment user-customized one interaction at a time.
- will figure out scaling as go/test
Good to hear the search is going to be fixed. This was really a pain point when onboarding people in Amsterdam with Damus..
Yeah we can fix it
I got a streamer with a dedicated audience to agree to try streaming on nostr via zap.stream, but he's primarily iOS and getting everything working so that he could recieve zaps was a nightmare, he gave up.
the good thing is that creating stream overlays would have been a walk in the park.
Perhaps direct people to follow hashtags based on their interests instead.
Simultaneously, put effort to build out how quality content within those hashtags is discovered (using an algorithm, not just “most recently posted”).
Through the hashtag path, people discover the best content for the things they care about, and as a 2nd order discovery, the people they want to follow directly.
I was about to build a prototype for this.
In my mind the basic is: download an open app store (eg: @Zapstore ), install Amber, create a new identity, install one mobile client (chat/social or both), login with Amber.
Even trying to create a custodial wallet on primal? Or were you trying to avoid custodial solutions?
He can create a WoS or Blink wallet and paste the address on the Nip-5 space or his desired client. What’s difficult about it?
I'm focusing on the creating the profile, I think this is the first crucial step, then we can redirect the user to any app, web or native.
Amber is great, but unfortunately is not cross platform.
I told you this a few days ago: #Nostr lacks more diversity and pluralism. It's very easy to find people who are extreme right-wingers and Trump supporters, as well as BitCoin lovers. But it's harder to find people who are left-wing democrats, LGBT, culture-seekers, and with a diversity of interests (from books, games, movies, music, etc.). Of course, people are generally more comfortable with the diversity and pluralism that exists on platforms like BlueSky or Threads. Personally, I only continue with Nostr because I like the more technological aspect of the protocol; otherwise, I would have already deleted my account. In general, Nostr's content is very bad and only puts off new people.
They're all on Mastodon crying their eyes out because they think Trump SS will kill the queers while reporting any dissenting opinions to instance admins. That's not diversity. I'm fine with them sticking to Mastodon. Having different protocols and approaches to decentralized services is much more diverse then having one that's in constant civil war.
This is the way.
Also Damus on macOS now immediately crashing upon launch
I know Will is not the biggest fan, but could be people discovery DVM
data-vending-machines.org - data vending machines Resources and Information.
data-vending-machines.org is your first and best source for all of the information you’re looking for. From general topics to more of what you wo...
Nostr is mostly intelligent people
this was in May, and he"s an American. WoS not an option, pretty sure Blink wasnt around.
was in may, pretty sure the Primal wallet wasn't out yet.
theyre catering to the lowest common denominator people. thats why its hard.
Gradual engagement is a step towards algorithm. I think organic growth is where it's at. Perhaps more important is to share content from nostr.
I like this. If someone doesn't engage much then they won't care enough to be reminded to back up their nsec. If someone does engage then gently reminding them to back it up and give themselves a username is a great way spread out onboarding info to get them to not feel overwhelmed by the technical details of it all.
Are you thinking app or web?
app is always tied up to the two major app stores...
Keep up the great work Will!
My 2 cents: onboarding is actually not bad, it's the speed having signed up. Posts don't load. Websites don't open. Can be painful...
(This is a general piece of feedabck, not specific to Damus)
Its been awful for a while. Though I've never heard a complaint about damus. People cant make their frist follow on many clients, so just leave. Other clients should follow your lead.
can help user test if needed
It's still hard to make your first follow on ditto. When you create a new user and try to follow someone it often doesnt. But if you go to another client, do it, and come back, it works. That said, overall, ditto is still by far my favourite client. I am #ditto only now.
Conbo is sooo important since it will be user's first interaction with the app and might gives some positive/negative feedback to the them. They might even delete the app right away if they don't like the process 😲
Cc: @untreu
2 sats not 2 cents 🤣
Why was accepting zaps hard? Zapstream creates a wallet for you automatically.
Maybe it needs to be tied to the zap button? @Kieran
One thing I know you said you were looking at - which I still think fits into the onboarding category is making Damus a NIP-46 remote signer.
Helping new Damus users onboard to not just Damus but other clients too showcases the benefits of nostr more broadly and I think having your main iOS client be your remote signer makes a lot of sense.
Your daily driver acting as a signer makes a ton. of sense.
That daily driver will not be a Twitter-clone, though.
Don't DVM algos just serve up a variation of the fixed lists, since they look at what people are already looking at, and everyone is looking at the fixed list?
I don't think we're going to get around actually analyzing the content, rather than the content-providers.
What do you think the daily driver will be?
Yes this.
It really depends. They could dynamically analyse some recent (popular) content, group it into categories and suggest users that wrote that content. This way suggested users would be up to date and not some chosen people forever, regarding if they are active etc.
My daily driver is a kind 1 client today. Explain.
Yeah, but that's the Catch-22 I mean. You have to already be popular, to have popular content. That's why follow lists have been getting more and more similar, with recommended or trending content often being the same 5 people over and over, with every post they make.
Gigantic bifurcation in the number of followers (200k versus 20), is the cause, and we can't end the cycle until we figure out how to surface unpopular-but-interesting content.
I mean, "popular" can be defined in many ways. It's really a matter of implementation. It can be absolute, but it could also be adjusted in terms of time/follower number etc. it's really a matter of implementation and what is wanted.
Web.
this is indeed the problem. that's why I threw away my popular keypair so I could focus on building a nostr experience that isn't based on follows at all
Good approach but we also need good user experience once people have joined.
good call
#Nostr's payment infrastructure is the problem
is hard to make payments
is hard to send/receive bitcoin
is hard to change wallets on clients
a whole team dealing with identity
a whole team dealing with auth
a whole team dealing with privacy
a whole team dealing with billing
dealing with payment infrastructure
is a total nightmare
NOSTR sucks
no bad teams only bad leaders
founder’s mindset is KEY
i’m the founder of Bitcoin Bank
8 years trying to get fix the infrastructure problem
i will solve it = payment/identity/security/privacy infrastructure
#Bitcoin
#Nostr
#Internet
we need to help people to do all at once in just one single place
we need more founders
people crazy enough to go and start crazy things
if we think about the greatest advancements in technology, humanity, economics, and environmental sustainability that have improved our quality of life, they all originated with founders: those brave enough to embark on unconventional journeys
but for more founders we need the right infrastructure
maybe is #Nostr but doesn’t work yet
i’ll take care. who is with me?
Its not the same
Agree.
Did zap.stream have wallet functionality in May?
I've seen too many people come and go from companies because their first few weeks were so disorganized. I would largely blame the onboarding.
However, I also can't help but wonder if those people even tried to help themselves when they were lost in the chaos. Taking initiative goes a long way and is generally an important characteristic of a driven person.
Care to elaborate?
All good points.
99% of onboarding experiences I have seen. is someone convincing another to install nostr, and the first thing the new user does after setup is look for the person who purple pilled them. which in most cases fails.
so I think the two ideas of caching profiles + QR sharing more data about a profile are both great enhancements.
Thank you!
and the fucking crypto bros
( i understand them )
i worked in tech startups
i know very well environments full of testosterone
ego issues
bro-like communication
( emotional communication is too difficult for tech bros )
i can help you guys
This ☝️💯💯💯
Correct. Glad this is a priority. Just catching wind of Notedeck now. Looks promising.
I don't know what you are talking about, it was extremely easy for me to buy sats on here. But yeah I'm from outside of USA.
I can send money instantly to my friends just with their phone number or email no cashapp or Venmo stupid third party bullshit required, just normal bank accounts.
Actually was surprised how was easy it was because normally to spend money online we have to share a bunch of personal information.
Primal only asked me for a name and country it didn't make me confirm anything or give away my home address phone number etc.