Thread
Nostr sometimes feels like that awkward party where everyone’s standing in corners checking their phones instead of talking. We’ve built this incredible censorship-resistant protocol, escaped the algorithm plantation, and then… crickets.
Here’s the psychological trap: we assume someone ELSE will engage, so we lurk instead of participate. Classic bystander effect meets network effects. Meanwhile, we’re all secretly refreshing our notifications hoping for that sweet dopamine hit of human connection.
The brutal truth? Nostr’s value isn’t in the protocol, it’s in US using it. Every like, zap, and repost creates positive reinforcement loops that keep people posting quality content instead of doomscrolling back to the bird app. We’re literally Pavlov’s dogs, but we can choose to ring each other’s bells.
Engagement breeds more engagement, and network effects are how we build the future.
P.S. - If you didn’t engage with this post, you just proved my point. 😏
Replies (15)
I lurk because so often there is such negative commentary directed towards “normies” and literally the words “if you don’t get it I’m not helping you”. So as someone transitioning from normie, I feel intimidated by some of the conversations and condescending tone. Having said that, when I have asked for help, it has been given freely. For me, it just a lot of courage to say anything for the fear of judgement. And that’s all on me, for sure, I’m just sayin’
How we interact with social media, how we communicate got trained over the years and is deeply embedded in our systems. Yes, many people are trained to hunt for dopamine on social media. And NOSTR proves that this doesn't necessarly work anymore.
People don't post for likes (dopamine), here on nostr:
People post for zaps (yes still dopamine).
And everybody knows the saying: "You wouldn't zap a car crash."
That's why people think more before posting, which is a blessing, but also post less because of that (can also be a blessing to be honest ---> signal > noise
You can just engage with the content you like seeing on #nostr
You can just create the content you want to see on nostr
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It’s a fair point. Personally, I like to have a little chat if something interesting pops up, I just don’t feel the urge to post my thoughts/activities often.
Guilty.
I do like to zap notes when I’m interested.
Maybe the awkward silence is part of the magic. Unlike other platforms, here we’re not being manipulated into constant noise. On Nostr, engagement means more, because it’s real and chosen. Quality over quantity, signal over noise.
I am new fairly new to Nostr, it takes a little getting used to, I have been liking posts that interest me and if I think they are really cool or I feel I have some kind of a connection (for example someone post about their garden or chickens ) I have been zapping them, I think that’s how its supposed to work, not sure if I can receive zaps yet myself but I’m still trying to figure things out 😊
Nice. Welcome aboard. You’ll get the hang of it.
You can’t receive zaps because you don’t have a wallet setup.
There’s are lots of options to setup a lightning wallet. You can download an app or go on a website and setup a lightning address.
Then go to your primal profile and you’ll see a wallet address when you scroll down. Insert your lightning address into that and you’ll should be good to go.
Do you have a recommendation for a wallet, that works well with Primal and Nostr?
Alby
