teldon on Nostr: I started thinking again about the question PABLOF7z asked a few weeks ago of "If ...
I started thinking again about the question PABLOF7z (npub1l2v…ajft) asked a few weeks ago of "If nostr was completely dead in 10, years what killed it?" and after reading a blog post from a new user that fiatjaf (npub180c…h6w6) had made a post about, another reason dawned on me.
An identity crisis. And it takes the form of there being difficulty in trying to describe what nostr even is. Because at this point we have Twitter alternatives, we have blogging sites, we have Reddit alternatives, we have Twitch alternatives, and we have Spotify alternatives. I've seen nostr "marketed" for the most part as *just* a Twitter alternative, but it's so much more.
So how the heck do we solve this? People like Rabble (npub1wmr…g240) have talked about hiding the more technical complexities of nostr behind more user-friendly solutions. The same can be done with the fact that nostr is a protocol. What do I mean by that? Clients should lean into the idea that they are filling a distinct role and are wholly independent of any other client. Pair that with the idea of NOT giving people a choice of clients when introducing people to nostr. I know it sounds crazy and counter to what you might want to do, but the way I see it is the less there is to choose from in the beginning the less confusing it'll be. Figure out what ecosystem they're coming from, ie. Twitter, etc., and what their primary device will be. Then tell them to use whatever client you use if you're using the same kind of device, or the most popular client for their device if not. After that let them explore, discover, and answer any questions they might have.
An identity crisis. And it takes the form of there being difficulty in trying to describe what nostr even is. Because at this point we have Twitter alternatives, we have blogging sites, we have Reddit alternatives, we have Twitch alternatives, and we have Spotify alternatives. I've seen nostr "marketed" for the most part as *just* a Twitter alternative, but it's so much more.
So how the heck do we solve this? People like Rabble (npub1wmr…g240) have talked about hiding the more technical complexities of nostr behind more user-friendly solutions. The same can be done with the fact that nostr is a protocol. What do I mean by that? Clients should lean into the idea that they are filling a distinct role and are wholly independent of any other client. Pair that with the idea of NOT giving people a choice of clients when introducing people to nostr. I know it sounds crazy and counter to what you might want to do, but the way I see it is the less there is to choose from in the beginning the less confusing it'll be. Figure out what ecosystem they're coming from, ie. Twitter, etc., and what their primary device will be. Then tell them to use whatever client you use if you're using the same kind of device, or the most popular client for their device if not. After that let them explore, discover, and answer any questions they might have.