Nostr twitter-like clients have a lot of passionate users, its clear, but after a few months of use, I am curious if these are really up to snuff. To be honest, when it comes to decentralization and censorship resistance, at times I feel it is riding on the coattails of Satoshi. But people like to talk about these features, so what gives?
Nostr as communication protocol, uses relays for users to send and receive information, which means it has some degree of censorship resilience. I own my keys, so I can take my data to any client as I please. It is also open source and permission-less, meaning anyone with the technical knowledge can build on it.
But is it as decentralized and censorship resistant as the money users are zapping around on it?
Doesn't the network effect, a term used to describe how value increases in proportion to the number of users, imply that users will benefit the most when they use the most populated relays? Is this not inherently centralizing?
If I opt out of a popular relay, and all my followers need to connect to the relays I'm publishing to to read my content (outbox model) - is this much of an improvement from mailing lists, where readers sign-up to receive newsletters in their mailbox?
Besides, am I not effectively censored if new users cannot find my content on the well-maintained and high-traffic relays? It feels like if I don't use these public relays, then I'll never be able to participate fully in the network.
As Vitor Pamplona explained in a blog post :
Remember, relays can see what your Nostr client is requesting and downloading at all times. They can track what you see and see what you like. They can sell that information to the highest bidder, they can delete your content or content that a sponsor asked them to delete (like a negative review for instance) and they can censor you in any way they see fit. Before using any random free relay out there, make sure you trust its operator and you know its terms of service and privacy policies.
Average users should fiddle with setting up their own relays, and still come out feeling they have to trust the operators will not store their data and sell it to the "highest bidder." This comment makes me feel I'm given a choice between an attention farming tech conglomerate or a faceless relay runner, yet the result is the same, which is that they can monitor my usage and sell my data.
So perhaps a certain amount of trust may be necessary for a project of this scope, which might seem a fair trade for being able to own one's own keys, but then should it be regarded as decentralized and censorship resistant if users are left trusting these relay operators?
These are genuine curiosities of mine that I have been hesitant to put to words and share. Truly, I love Nostr, and I realize there are many brilliant people involved in the projects to building on it. I'm just having trouble reconciling if it really is everything it is made out to be, or if I'm just drinking purple coloured kool-aid.
I hope this post is not taken as a vote of non-confidence in Nostr projects; take it merely as the tired ruminations of a fiat junky slave with yet a few shards of hope in humanity.
FR