Dropping bars!!!

Client level banning killing nostr. Doesn't matter what truths you have to speak when no one shall ever see it. Beats the goal of a freedom of speech protocol.

sum things take time to add uP*/*i hear *U* & t Y*

I've been off it for a while but decided to return with vigor. I'm interested in the specific problems you believe contribute to the retention issue. I think more are realizing there must be problems and will be interested to support solutions. I'm still in the phase of trying to use it properly before I go digging into issues.

Welcome back! You're right that more people are starting to realize there are real challenges here. As for the specific retention issues... Onboarding. The fact that self-hosting requires some technical know-how and equipment, and the alternative is to pay to play. It's easy to pay more than a verified check cost on X when you factor in media hosting and spam-resistant relays. Network effects. People are already established elsewhere and their friends aren't on Nostr. You're posting into a void initially. Bitcoin echo chamber. Most people talk about Bitcoin ad nauseam. It really is the main topic of the entire protocol. If you're not interested in Bitcoin maximalism, there's still very little content diversity to keep you engaged. Reach. People want to be heard. The daily active users hover around 10,000-15,000 "trusted" pub keys. Compare that to any mainstream platform and you're talking about a fraction of a percent of potential audience. If you're trying to build a brand, promote a business, or just want your voice to matter in broader conversations, Nostr simply doesn't have the numbers. But here's the thing that really gets me—according to nostr.band data, retention of trusted users trends to 0 within 30 days for recent cohorts. Think about that. We're not just failing to onboard people properly; we're losing the ones who actually make it through the initial hurdles. The message-to-market mismatch is glaring. The marketing focuses on censorship resistance, but most users aren't posting anything that would get them banned elsewhere. The value proposition doesn't match the user experience for the average person. And then there's the technical complexity that nobody wants to talk about. Even basic features like follow lists don't scale properly, and the relay model creates consistency issues that confuse new users. I could go on, but these are the main structural hurdles I see that need addressing before Nostr can move beyond its current niche.

Yep, I agree with all that. Any time I see reference to Nostr elsewhere people's first experience is; a firehose of bitcoin/scammy/christian/libertarian stuff that's really in need of moderation... That's pretty much what people see, like it or not. People that have tried a bit harder say they've been fleeced transferring crypto to sats with even the popular wallets compounding the scammy perception. It's going to be a difficult base to grow from imho.

Super important discussion. I have zero followers but personally don't care as I'm not trying to farm an audience. I simply enjoy the freedom to share my thoughts into the world without moderation or overarching centralised control. I also like that the diversity of content is within my power. However I agree that there is no protocol growth ahead if all these issues are not thoroughly documented, debated and technically addressed. I also do not see Primal as the answer. Nostr must be so much more than that. View quoted note →

Quote: "If a dissident speaks truth to power on a protocol and no one is around to hear it, does it really make a sound?" Ironically I'm literally reaching out to you @Ava over and over to cover our life's work of a unique privacy project, which helps nostr and you can make crypto from, to dead silence of you ignoring me.

Send me your proposition.