hot take: relay economics was never nostr's problem.

paid relays exist. search relays exist. WoT spam filtering exists. membership relays exist. every supply-side fix has already shipped. needle didn't move.

because nobody ever joined or left a social network over its server economics. the binding constraint is demand: there's nothing here you can't get elsewhere with less friction, and the people worth following aren't here yet.

people don't follow protocols. protocols follow people.