Damus
Alekandar Svetski profile picture
Alekandar Svetski
@Alekandar Svetski
Nostr has lost the battle for censorship resistance.

While WE all know that Nostr is superior because it’s a protocol, people do NOT care enough. They are more interested in what’s written ON the box, not what’s necessarily inside the box.

The people who did care about “free speech” are now placated enough with Rumble for Video, X for short form, Substack for long form. With Meta now throwing their weight behind the movement, it’s game over for this narrative - at least for the foreseeable future.

There is no way Nostr as a brand can claim that space in people’s minds, especially against multiple established brands.

That ‘censorship resistance’ and ‘free speeech’ ships have sailed (even though they were fake), and the people who cared enough boarded.

The normies who never cared, still don’t care, or they found their way to the anti-platforms, like Threads, BlueSky or Pornhub.

The small minority of us still here on Nostr…are well…still here. We’re building, which is great - that MUST happen before anything else.

But if the goal is to grow the network effect here and bring in more people, then we need to find a new angle. Something more compelling that is a “running towards” value, not a “running away from” value.

I’m not 100% sure what that is. My instinct is that a “network of incredible applications”, that don’t necessarliy or explicitly brand themselves as Nostr, but have it under the hood is the right direction, but it needs more experimentation. Also needs more really well-build apps for non-sovereignty minded people (especially content creators) and people who don’t necessarly care about the reasons Nostr was first built.

We’ve been working away at this Satlantis thing for almost a year now and it’s coming along - albeit WAY slower than I would’ve liked. We’ve made a whole bunch of mistakes and at times I feel like a LARP considering the state of non-delivery.

BUT…we made some big changes in the last 2mths since missing a couple key deadlines, and I’m pretty confident we’ll have something cool to show in a month or two.

Let’s see if this approach starts to bring new interest andn activity here. Or if I’m full of shit. Either way, I’m going to keep looking for a better ngle than “free speech” because I no longer think that’s a battle we can win (we can come back and fight that battle when the time is more right, and when the winds have shifted in our favor once more).
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Steven Day · 85w
I haven’t fully formed out my ultimate thoughts about this but and I think that Nostr’s strength can be in the form of the portable identity. In terms of end users that’s even too technical or meaningless. It will be “I made a profile for this app or service and I am connecting to the app,...
Jordi Llonch Esteve · 85w
nostr:nprofile1qqs2rx4daefmcuwjttl0xegx0guh3tps64fq6dhv3nr56aagw2hhxkgpzemhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuvrcvd5xzapwvdhk6qgdwaehxw309aukzcn49ekk2qghwaehxw309aex2mrp0yh8x6tpd4ehgu3wvdhk6k9gn65 is on the right track 💯
CitizenPedro · 85w
It's not just about censorship, it's about both censorship, ownership AND flexibility. We need to own the internet and Nostr will reprice the internet (or data) basically. Just like Bitcoin is repricing the world, Nostr will reprice data (or internet) in itself. We always are/have the data but we...
nostrich · 85w
Yeah, nostr is a technology layer, not an app. The apps will come if you guys build the layer well. Don't worry.
Zelaya · 85w
Most people want entertainment, freedom not so much.
nostrich · 85w
Only if you presume the battle has ended. It hasn’t. A temporary, misguided armistice is not a conflict’s final chapter.
Mattias Lindberg · 85w
Time is on my side, yes it is. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOxHsuV83KA
VampireMJ · 85w
I believe you need to have a lower time preference. As for bitcoin, Nostr will not succeed, everything else will fail because of the misaligned incentives. Nostr just need to be ready when the world needs it.
Bitcoin Boomer · 85w
I guess time will tell, but I prefer nostr.
Des Imoto マキシ · 85w
Not bigger is better, better is better. „Bigger is better“ is fiat thinking. You worry too much about normies.
The Bitcoin Butcher · 85w
2025 nostr is like 2010 bitcoin. We just started but we have already won !
Dee₿s · 85w
What happens if the EU ban X?
calva⚡️ · 85w
'Permissionless' was always a better way to describe Nostr's resiliency versus 'censorship resistant.' Both are of the same vein, but each is rooted in different truths.
TeslaLiberty · 85w
Nostr did not lose anything. We are not thinking a couple of months or years, it's a game played over decdes maybe centuries. Nostr is winning BIG time even if no one knows about it yet. It's like bitcoin in 2010, it was winning big but so early no one saw it
Learning Producers · 85w
Nostr is about living a free speech lifestyle and owning your data. If that’s not enough to draw people in, that’s on them.