They chose a specific, select number - a default. What’s stopping them from removing those relays entirely as a choice.

I find the Twitter threads make for a very easy experience. Especially being able to filter on most popular (zaps), most recent, most controversial (most replies)

You could swap who you follow on whatever app you like... And sure “open protocols” don’t have to have algorithms, or they could have them and you could choose between them, as you say. But, again, that’s potentially the same with any app… an implementation like Damus could have an algorithm that’s “good”, or one that manipulates you just like the big tech companies. Anyone or any corporation can make a Damus… and by the way Damus does it already. Just go to the search tab and check the top right filter… Damus already chooses for you what you’re exposed to.

Go to the search tab on Damus. In the top right there’s a filter where you can pick which relays you see posts from. For me half of them were unchecked. The unchecked ones were mostly spam and crap, but it just shows that (1) the Damus developers could choose to censor or promote whatever the fuck they like to their users and (2) relays by definition can promote crap or censor crap. Who knows what that could be used for in the future…

That’s a good point. Couldn’t implementations like Damus just be shutdown though? Someone has the power to remove their app from the AppStore, or delete their Git, or their webpage. It’s not Nostr but a lot of people use Nostr exclusively through things like Damus.

I’m not disagreeing with you. Their algorithms can be harmful. It doesn’t make algorithms bad per se though. I don’t want to get into the psychology of humans, but you can easily get sucked into things that are bad for your mental health just from the people you follow or listen to.

I’m just saying, never having an algorithm is limiting and a waste to any social app. A good algorithm will show you things or people you like, or things that you might not like but challenge you in a healthy way. This is all very subjective, but I’ve discovered a lot of incredible people, music and channels because of algorithms on YouTube, for example.

An algorithm can be written to cater to what you like. Naturally that will make you stay more. It’s the same as someone you like recommending some else.

Algorithms aren’t bad. We use them everyday, whether it’s Twitter, youtube, Google, or even conversation. Twitter’s sucks, but I don’t think algorithms are bad in general

I’m not done with you

Not advocating*

Ok. I agree fully. I’m
Or advocating for one relay, but you said what’s the point of having a relay if people can just unfollow it? I’m saying it so cheap to make relays that “good” relays can easily turn into “bad” relays.

No ads is good. No algorithm? Do you get suggested anything outside of what other users suggest? Or shitshow that is the search tab? No ceo is good too.