Jack Dorsey explains very concisely how Nostr works in 2 minutes

One of the best descriptions I’ve seen. No fluff, no technical jargon. Why Jack left X and Bluesky, was because he wanted a social platform that was also going to be censorship free. The Nostr design depends on numerous hosted relays, and there is/are no central server/s that store posts. Nostr is quite different from the decentralised type hosting of Bluesky or Fediverse servers.

I’m glad too he touched on Nostr not working on top of blockchain, because although there are many who punt crypto on Nostr, and you can tip any poster in crypto if you wish for their post, you firstly do not have to use any of that (it is optional) and the network does not rest on top of it. Many users on Nostr (like myself) don’t mention crypto and post about perfectly normal things.

Watch youtube.com/watch?v=0YDj1QdL2Z…
#Blog, #Nostr, #socialnetworks, #technology

Diaspora* v. NOSTR

I personally prefer the #polycentric nature of #diaspora to the #decentralized nature of #Nostr but I definatley think it has some advanteges to prevent such an enshitification. If they ever get to a point where the majoirty of users aren’t #BitcoinBois it will be better.

Can’t decide between Bluesky, Mastodon and Nostr? Nootti’s new app lets you post to all three

Managing a social presence these days can be tough. It’s even tougher for those who are experimenting with the new wave of Twitter-like services, like Mastodon, Nostr and Bluesky, where staying active means a lot of duplicate posts to different networks. Thankfully, developers are starting to address our needs for cross-posting tools. In addition to scheduling services like Fedica and Postpone, there’s now a new app, Nootti, that allows you to post to Mastodon, Nostr and Bluesky from one interface.

What makes Nootti compelling is that you can easily customize each post slightly for the different platforms. To do so, you first type your post in the “Main” tab, then switch over to the tabs for the other social networks. The post will be automatically filled in on each tab, but you can edit the message for the individual networks.

Which is all great, but it is only an iOS app, and there is no mention of a coming Android version at all. The Tapestry app should be coming still (no posting, and also iOS only), but I’m thinking we will see more of these integrated social network platform apps.

See https://techcrunch.com/2024/02/16/cant-decide-between-bluesky-mastodon-and-nostr-noottis-new-app-lets-you-post-to-all-three/
#Blog, #bluesky, #mastodon, #Nostr, #technology

The fediverse, explained

The Verge

The buzziest new thing in social networking is a big deal. It’s also very confusing. And it’s not actually new. (...)

.

So what is the fediverse?
It’s an interconnected social platform ecosystem based on an open protocol called ActivityPub, which allows you to port your content, data, and follower graph between networks.

What?

Ugh, I know. Let me try again.

The fediverse is as if you took X, TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook and made them all interoperable so you could post anything from anywhere, and all your followers would be guaranteed to see it. And if you wanted to leave one platform for another, you could bring all your content, all your followers, all your everything with you. (...)

But all of this stuff only works if there is a standard, and I’d bet $10 that ActivityPub is going to be that standard. It’s the one that’s overseen by the World Wide Web Consortium, it’s the one with the most momentum, it’s the one Threads is supposedly going to support — it’s just kind of clearly winning. (...)

So why would I leave Instagram and Facebook?
That’s the big question. Do you like Instagram and Facebook?

I mean, sure. It’s where all my friends are.
That is the single biggest problem for the fediverse. A lot of folks I’ve talked to say that, basically, if we’d built social media like this 20 years ago, the world would be better and smarter and we’d all be richer and better-looking. (Or something.) But we didn’t. We built it on a bunch of closed platforms that turned out to be really sticky, really lucrative for the companies that made them, and frankly kind of user-hostile. But it’s really, really hard to convince people to stop hanging out where their friends are and go join something new just because it’s better. That transition will take a long time, if it ever happens. (...)

Complete article

Tags: #fediverse #social_media #activitypub #x #Twitter #tiktok #snapchat #instagram #facebook #youtube #algoritm #interoperability #mastodon #hubzilla #diaspora* #Bluesky #threads #AT_Protocol #Farcaster #Nostr #Reddit #Pixelfed #Lemmy #PeerTube #Friendica #BookWyrm #Goodreads #Misskey #Flipboard #Medium #hubzilla

Is it time for #Russians to switch to #Nostr?

...Moscow, handed a 1,500-ruble (roughly US$16) fine to artist and photographer Inna Mosina over several Instagram posts depicting rainbow flags...the posts were published before the ruling, at a time when rainbow flags were not regarded by authorities as extremist, and her lawyer argued that a police report about her alleged wrongdoing was filed before the ruling took force. The court ordered her to pay the fine nonetheless..., a court fined a man 1,000 rubles (about US$11) for allegedly posting a rainbow flag on social media.

#SocialMedia #Fediverse #news #russia #lgtbt

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♲ World News Bot - 2024-02-05 19:46:59 GMT

First Russians jailed over rainbow-coloured items after LGBTQ ‘movement’ outlawed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/russia-central-asia/article/3251046/first-russians-jailed-over-rainbow-coloured-items-after-lgbtq-movement-outlawed?utm_source=rss_feed

nostr - Notes and Other Stuff Transmitted by Relays

Interesting read on that weird protocol that #nostr is: https://fiatjaf.com/nostr.html . There's a lot of vague corners in that and I don't agree with everything this writing is about (especially since it also is quite "opinionated" at times, as all these write-ups seem to be). But a few things definitely are worth keeping in mind, a a few things are pretty valid and should probably be taken into consideration when trying to improve other solutions...
(In the end, though and here again, a load of these "newer" protocols seem pretty much like loosely-knit "ideas" that try to mimic aspects of ancient asynchronous communication systems like e-mail or NNTP without having seen half the problems these old protocols have somehow addressed or even solved.)

My video overview of Nostr: A simple, open protocol that enables global, decentralized, and censorship-resistant social media

Nostr is unique in that it has a global public key ID that replicates posts (notes) via relays, so it is scalable, resistant to censorship, and the user fully owns their identity profile. There are only two parts to the network, namely relays and clients, with the Nostr protocol linking them. Every post is signed, and every client validates these signatures.

In this video I explain more about Nostr is, why it is probably one of the easiest networks to get registered and going on, I compare it with some other protocols, and I demonstrate a few of the web as well as Android mobile apps. There are no servers at all needing to be chosen, and it is truly irrelevant which client app is used. I’ll also explain where cryptocurrency may come in, but why you need not worry about it all, or even use it at all.

Watch https://youtu.be/8mSyMCJlSwA
#Blog, #alternativeto, #decentralised, #Nostr, #socialnetworks, #technology

Even Nostr has a Reddit type alternative called Nvote

Nvote is a decentralized, vote-driven community similar to services like Reddit and HackerNews. Nvote is powered by Nostr (yes Nostr is more than just posting short or long-form social media text posts).

Why should I want to use this instead of a centralized service like Reddit?

• It’s lightweight. No ads, no JavaScript. No images except in posts. (inline images can be disabled in settings)
• Full feature compatibility with privacy browsers like TorBrowser with JavaScript disabled.
• Community-based spam prevention with no centralized moderators.
• Publicly available activity data to help the community identify vote manipulation and astroturfing.
• Anyone can host a Nostr relay and mirror the data.
• Relays and clients can be run locally or be made public for other people to share.
• Ability to disable spam filters or even modify the client with custom filters.
• You don’t have to rely on a single relay for content. You can configure the client to use other relays as data providers.
• Backend data is owned by nobody and can be digested by alternative clients without the need for special API permissions.

Yes, the service does need some love as it is mostly autoposting from Reddit by the looks of it, but there are a few users commenting I see.

See https://nvote.co/
#Blog, #alternativeto, #Nostr, #opensource, #reddit, #technology

Nostr: A simple, decentralised, open protocol that enables a truly censorship-resistant and global social network

Nostr (acronym for Notes and Other Stuff Transmitted by Relays) is a protocol that connects clients via relays to exchanges notes (posts). Anyone can run a relay if they wish. A user is identified by a public key (not an e-mail address, user ID or phone number). Posts are particularly resistant to censorship and are cryptographically validated.

Nostr is decentralised and not owned by a centralised service (like Twitter). This means that the direction of the protocol is up to all of us! We can suggest and advocate for changes and offer feedback on ideas suggested by others. Being an active part of the community gives you a say in the direction of the network.

Nostr is a protocol in the same way that the AT protocol (used by Bluesky) and ActivityPub (by Mastodon, PixelFed, and other Fediverse clients) are protocols, but the protocol differs in what and how it communicates between clients. One of Nostr’s main innovations is its concept of relays, software that sends, receives, and stores text messages. Right now, there is ongoing debate about which protocols are best, which are most open, will scale best, and whether that protocol is unduly influenced by one bigger partner.

As of April 2023, Nostr has 1.1 million users. Jack Dorsey, the co-founder of Twitter, endorses and financially supported the development of Nostr. US Senator Cynthia Lummis and Ethereum’s creator Vitalik Buterin are among its early adopters.

Nostr is a protocol only, so no server or client application.

A user can choose various clients to connect to Nostr, from web, iOS, Android, and even desktop apps. The user’s public key is what is common across the clients as the identifier everyone will see. As there is no link to e-mail etc for resetting access, that public key and the private key are essential to retaining your identity on the network, or for using additional client applications. Without the private key, you cannot use that same identity on other client apps.

To get going on the Nostr social network:
1. Choose any Nostr client app / website
2. Register and note public key AND private key (websites may show under account settings)
3. Put what you want in your profile
4. Start posting

See https://nostr.com/
#Blog, #Nostr, #opensource, #privacy, #socialnetworks, #technology

I just looked at #nostr. What a #shitshow.

Nostr Explained Visually for Beginners

How to get started with Nostr, a decentralized FOSS Twitter alternative which doesn’t use a blockchain and is claimed to be more censorship resistant than Mastodon.

#social #networing #foss #internet #freedom #censorship #protocol #nostr