-
@ Eric FJ
2025-04-26 17:11:14
Thanks for sharing this article — I appreciate the engagement. Thought I’d respond point by point:
First, on decentralization:
Bluesky, Farcaster, and Lens are not effectively decentralized because they are not permissionless. I know they all state intentions to decentralize over time, but in practice, the complexity of their infrastructures makes true permissionlessness extremely unlikely.
In all blockchain projects you’ve observed, have you ever actually seen a system start centralized and then successfully become decentralized? The closest thing might be Ethereum, and we both know how that turned out — not exactly a model of neutrality or openness.
Nostr, for all its messiness, got this part right from the start.
Onboarding challenges:
I agree this is still a major hurdle. Curious: which onboarding flows have you tried yourself recently? Have you seen nstart.me? I’d love to hear your thoughts — there’s real progress happening here, even if it’s not obvious yet.
Key management:
I don’t think the average user needs to deeply understand public/private key cryptography. It can be abstracted with good UX and better metaphors — something like “your magic signature in the cosmos of events.” We’ll get there. It just hasn’t been fully nailed yet.
Relay UX:
Completely agree it’s still rough.
That said, I actually think over-abstracting relays is dangerous. Early 20th-century users learned how to tune AM/FM radios — regular people can understand a decentralized network if the UX respects their intelligence and curiosity. We need better design, not invisible architecture.
Zap economy concerns:
Totally aligned with you here — it’s actually how you and I started interacting.
But I’d argue that even with more liquidity, reputation will always require authentic effort. In a value-for-value system, you have to earn trust through thoughtful creation and consistent interaction. There’s no shortcut.
Why should I trust a brand-new account in a permissionless system? I shouldn’t — and that’s healthy skepticism, not gatekeeping.
Client diversity:
This is one of Nostr’s greatest strengths — real resilience through many independent clients.
However, you nailed an important weakness: development entropy.
Without something like a “W3C for Nostr,” NIP consistency is a mess right now. The NIP guardians badly need better organization and a public, accountable process. (I’m planning to write more in-depth on this soon.)
Lightning issues:
I’m less qualified to speak deeply here, but I’m optimistic. NWC and eCash are gaining momentum, and I suspect Lightning UX will improve faster than people expect.
⸻
Thanks again for sparking a good conversation.
My only advice — and take it for what it’s worth — is that you might get more out of Nostr by going deeper here instead of splitting attention across platforms.
The others are building cathedrals. Nostr is the infinite bazaar. And in the long run, the bazaar always wins.
Pura vida.