I've had a LOT of conversations with people about Nostr, really people who are aware of Nostr but don't use it. There are a few things that come up. * General admiration for Nostr and how it does tons of interesting things in terms of tech. It's way more flexible than ATprotocol or ActivityPub. * Frustration with the way user accounts / logins / keys work. It's very confusing if you're not somebody who already understands crypto. Mostly it's confusing because of how we talk about it. If we tell people, here's your magic user text, paste this in places and you'll be magically logged in, they love it. If we try and explain custody and wallets and keys and browser extensions and all the ways you can login with Nostr, their eyes glaze over. * Not feeling like it's a place for them. Everybody is talking about Bitcoin and Nostr. Most folks don't care very much about the underlying tools or how payments work. They want to talk about their interests, surfing, food, travel, their friends. or ten million other things. They see Nostr as a bitcoin place. Most people have either no opinion or a negative opinion of bitcoin because somebody tried to evangelize it too hard. * Zaps, folks love zaps. I've heard from board members and the executives of Bluesky that they want zaps. Folks don't like bitcoin and bitcoin content but they do want the functionality. The problem is when creators come to Nostr, they only get zaps for content that is about nostr or bitcoin. There's no good way to build and sustain themselves with other content. * Algorithms - we all have a love hate relationship with algorithms. We say we don't want them, but we choose to use systems with algorithms. We have them in nostr with DVM's and it works. But it's not well integrated in to the apps and most feed services via DVM's are way too slow. The algorithm helps people be seen, grow an audience, find their people, keep being engaged. We built the proof of concept but didn't make it in to a good product. These things that keep people from Nostr are fixable. What i'm going at with my podcast is to build a larger movement, Nostr is a solution, but people on Nostr aren't my intended audience. ;-D

They do not need a decentralised censorship resistant place for talking about surfing and other every day activities. Do not market Nostr. People that need it will come, which means Nostr can stay high signal low noise for a longer time.

" Folks don't like bitcoin and bitcoin content but they do want the functionality." This is much more common than we realise inside our Bitcoin Bubble. Unpopular opinion: Bitcoin has a brand problem.

It's time to use the tech to also design some niche topic clients and not just connect to the nostr mainstream void. Give em some gardening, baking, photography forums And easy group functions

Clients still have poor UX, as they often lack the necessary explanatory text, resulting in users finding it confusing or not getting satisfactory answers, and failing to learn how to use Nostr, even if they log in. Another thing missing is a more refined search engine, as I can't even find my own posts in many cases.

"They see nostr as a Bitcoin place." This is currently an impediment, but not because it's a problem with nostr. It's a problem with how people see bitcoin and it is exactly what will make nostr the leader in the long run. Some of the bitcoin phobia out there is warranted because of ham-handed orange pilling, but it's all love. Most people don't get it yet. NGU is a massive nostr billboard. Everyone who dismissed Bitcoin will be forced to check their assumptions and reconsider their position. I know this because I went through it myself. Probably all of us did (or will). If we continue to solve the other problems you mentioned, develop better UX, come up with more use cases, and create value we will be ready for the flood of devs and uses when they come. This is why I exclusively tell bitcoiners about nostr. Nobody else cares enough to put up with the learning curve and if all the bitcoiners are here this is where the future will be. It's another embodiment of the digital gault's gulch. NGU first, then hypernostrization.

I dont care about them. I only care bout nostriches

Seems like a perception problem. So many accounts on here don't talk about bitcoin and nostr at all. One of the main issues I see is always looking outside of nostr for more users when so many are here or came and went with no engagement. Finding and sharing young accounts is how nostr wins. Word will get out when people realize how different it is to x, bsky, inst, etc Just my 2 sats ✌

Great feedback, I agree on the Nostr bitcoin topics. We need more users that post about stuff other then geeky techs

What ChatGPT said to me today in passing about nostr: "Most of Nostr is Bitcoin + Nostr itself + Ideological Free-Speech Talk." How do "we" change that? I don't think that's a thing. Nostr was built by bitcoiners, that's like saying "I would love to use bitcoin as money, but the only people I can do business with are these dirty ancap bitcoiners". The best way to attract more people is to use the Trump-effect: Sell disillusioned mainstream people on how nostr is the only way the first ammendment can be guaranteed. Their followers will find them.

On the Cory Doctorow episode of your podcast you referred to Nostr only in passing, as one of those weird crypto social networks.