I find there's lots of FUD out there about Lightning. That it is trending toward centralizatuon, that it works only in a custodial manner or that uptake has been insignificant or modest at best.
Lightning enables instantaneous bitcoin payments globally. If you're sending payments it's completely private. You can very easily swap your custodial sats (and you have dozens of wallets to choose from) directly into cold storage. For relatively small-medium sized transactions, payments are damn reliable (or can be if you spend a few hours figuring out good peers to open channels with)
Stacker news I think is a great example of people building through the stumbling blocks because instsnt bitcoin payments are more important than small inconveniences. Neither Bitcoin nor lightning is perfect, but aren't they both damn good?
I see SN as the hardest use case for noncustodial bitcoin - lowish customer motivation, payments so small they’re regarded, payments so frequent their impairment is catastrophic - which is partly why we were excited to try. If we can make them work well it’s like landing on the moon as far as I’m concerned. We still need to get a dog into orbit, but I think we’ll get there.
It's definitely an engineering feat to even to get it to this point. Everyone I mention it to is impressed, though perhaps not enough to actually come join, unfortunately. Sadly (and it is sad), I think text-focused forums are a niche product now. Even on Reddit, meme-spam and help posts dominate any actual discussions.
Thinking about growing SN, I'd think about what products besides text forums the P2P micropayments backend can be extended to. I was thinking a model like Substack could work. By the way, Substack doesn't support Markdown which is a huuuuuuuuuge demotivator for tech-savvy creators and maybe something SN could capitalize on?
@kr shared a related idea recently. We might be able to grow doing something substack like. I’m not sure it’ll be newsletters, but there’s a lot to learn from them and what it means to grow an internet product today.
👀
Astonishing actually. Proof that people bitching about how lightning is all custodial/centralized is just their confirmation bias.
I'm hoping more and more (eduacted) people will start to feel brain-fried by the damn algos and make their retreat.
I love custodial lightning!
I can live with cowboy credits
This why I love SN.
Too many people fudding lightning, not nearly enoough having a go at making it work, perhaps thinking they can make a bigger splash by reinventing the wheel.
Perhaps Satoshi vanished because, somehow, he had the amazing foresight to realize how badly people's ego can tarnish their ability to see clearly. Just a thought.
It’s great being on the platform which is at the coal face and having a go!
It has proven the concept that micropayments can dramatically reduce spam and greatly increases the quality of content.
It does that for sure all you need to do is look at the noise on other platforms like reddit
Yes I am a refugee from Reddit...its sad what it has become.
Have also found that restaurants who accept Bitcoin are always well above average value. Not sure why but to make a good food/hospo business I think you need some passion and grit and Bitcoiners tend to have that more than the average.
SN is the only true use case for V4V. Of course SN is not perfect, but it's the only successful use case for LN in community powered social media.
It works swell!
The article addresses the common FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) surrounding the Lightning Network. Critics often claim that it’s heading toward centralization, works only in a custodial manner, or has seen limited adoption. However, the author argues that Lightning provides instant, global Bitcoin payments, which are completely private. Users can easily move funds from custodial wallets into cold storage, and for small-to-medium-sized transactions, the network is quite reliable, especially if users take time to set up strong payment channels with trusted peers.
The author highlights Stacker News as an example of a community working through challenges to embrace the benefits of instant Bitcoin payments, acknowledging that while neither Bitcoin nor Lightning is flawless, they both offer significant advantages and are incredibly powerful technologies.
good article