If we can solve the ability to onboard entire creator communities with little friction, Nostr will experience growth like never before. We might have some tools for this now, but none of them work well enough for your average person to use. These apps and services don't need to be *better* than their legacy alternatives, they just need to function as well as what Nostr is attempting to replace. Once apps work, and actually work well, the *better* part of the equation writes itself with a portable digital social identity. Until then, we're just setting people up for failure again and again.
I’m a creator, high on my list are:
1. Ability to schedule posts (including image uploads)
2. easier way to collect metrics like follower count, engagement, post views.
3. Tools for media editing
'just' function as well as apps funded with millions if not billions is no easy feat though
I can help with some of these:
1.
https://shipyard.pub/ schedules posts
1a. You can upload the image anytime as the inline image shown is just a link. A good site (one of many) is
nostr.build media uploader
Image, video and media uploader for Nostr, Damus, Primal, YakiHonne, noStrudel, snort.social, Iris.to, astral.ninja, and most all nostr clients. Up...
there are free or paid options
2. The concept of NOSTR is inherently different, it's not better or worse, just different. Understanding this difference will reduce your concerns here.
3. No advice, sorry.
1. Shipyard sucks, I’ve tried it. Very buggy, have tinfoil in my nsec and I have to divert from my preferred client.
1a. Nostr.build only supports manual uploads, and perhaps paid api uploads. I already pay for Primal, so I’d like to make use of their server, but it it has no api/automated upload option. I don’t want to use legacy sites like imgur.
2. This is what people pay good money for on social media like instagram, knowing how your posts perform is valuable information.
I guess a creator “sells” these data to sponsors and companies to convince them to support his work, right?
Do you think that by getting direct support by the community using #zaps can decrease the need for sponsorship and similar?
1. Easy
2. Easy within a #communikey (with its own main relay + blossom server)
3. Hard but high priority
I use shipyard a lot (when posting daily GMs while on holiday), it's almost always worked perfectly for me. If you have issues, the great thing about NOSTR is you can tell the developer and they'll fix them. I believe
@PABLOF7z built this. Let him know what you want.
As for manual uploads, they were a revelation for me, it's what other platforms do, but it's hidden. NOSTR is a protocol, not a platform, company or algorithm, seeing how things really work is definitely a plus for me. Primal definitely hides this from you.
Primal is great, but it hides the NOSTR protocol from you. Think of it as more of an onboarding tool than a final destination.
2. I don't disagree with your point,
At the start of the last century, drivers complained that their new cars weren't producing manure when they replaced their horse drawn carriages with them. Nobody tried to fix that problem. Imperfect stats is a inherently an unsolvable problem for the most part.
If I create a npub and don't follow anybody and only use it to view posts, it remains undetected. I have maintained my privacy. My privacy, however comes at the cost of your metrics.
An open protocol based on #value4value may be a better long term option for you. You might find that being paid, peer to peer by zaps gives a much more visceral experience.
If it isn't, then the existing platforms do what they do extremely well. We're not necessarily trying to replicate those models.
what do you mean with tools for media editing? in app video editor?
Sounds like Linux gradual adoption over the years … still… I’d much prefer open source regardless. What about some kind of development platform running off lightning snd sats? I feel a nostr YouTube equivalent would be a start with zero ads and 100% education/helpful content.
Cutting resizing photos, video editing, cutting, adding music, etc.
Would be great if I didn’t have to switch clients..
One day, you'll look back at that post and laugh.
Switching clients is the best part. If you don't like how a client does something you switch to a different one or build your own.
There's a fun saying on here, if you're not using at least 4 clients on NOSTR, you're doing it wrong 😂
It's a joke, but there is a serious side to it.
Switching clients currently exposes your nsec, so there’s that..
Also, I’m not against using multiple clients, but I pay for 10GB of primal storage, so I’m not keen on also paying for a Nostr.build subscription just to be able to use their api.
It's not... And that's where we are at now.
From the browser you can use a key signer like
@npub1geta...0nfm or
@npub16uvg...0vkc signer like this:
LNbits Shop
Nostr Signing Device (NSD) - LNbits Shop
Build your own nostr signing device using off the shelf hardware. When used as a hardware wallet can be used with the LNbits onchain extension. ...
But sometimes, unfortunately, you do have to expose your nsec. NOSTR is very much an evolving protocol.
Over time you’ll work out the best range of services for you and which ones you wish to pay for.
I hope you can stick with the journey. I think it’s worth it. Plus I’ve had a look through your posts and like a lot of your art.
I think you’ll find an audience here and you might even find it pays well.
this signer used esp32 which is not safe and have backdoors.
Have you let
@npub1c878...8avm know?
portable digital social ID
you will slowly move to paying for more open services that interop nicely with other services, rather than centralized silos that rent-seek by arbitrarily trapping you.
maybe not today, but some day.
Also, since there’s no algo. If you guys would Repost my work/Follow that would be amazing 🙏🏼
Bingo. The biggest hurdle isn’t convincing people why they should use Nostr—it’s making sure they can use it without friction. Most people don’t care about decentralization, censorship resistance, or sovereignty; they just want things to work.
Right now, onboarding is a nightmare for the average user. Private keys? Relays? Wallet integration? It’s all second nature to the tech-savvy, but a brick wall for normies. The moment they hit friction, they bounce right back to the platforms they know.
The game-changer isn’t building something better—it’s building something equivalent but sovereign. The second it feels as seamless as its legacy counterparts, the advantages of self-ownership will do the selling. Until then, we’re just preaching to the choir.
Creator communities 👀
"...they just need to function as well as what Nostr is attempting to replace..."
I'm with this. Though I don't think we're setting people for failure.
I have failed myself, a lot, when it comes to using what few clients & apps I have the time & brain to use; but I feel this is a journey, an undertaking that many in this community have been very helpful with.
There has been times I've been the one to pause the "receiving of the help" because I need to catch up, or my non-Nostr life has decided to get in the way.
I am in agreement that user-friendliness does need to be a priority. If you are in your late 30s now, you need to think of how would your 80+ grandma/grandpa use this, why, & with how much ease.
Why?
Because the old ones still have a lot good sh*t to offer that many young'uns have no idea of its yuuuuge value.
I'm not saying let's cater to octogenarians, but when solving a problem from the perspective of your least capable participant, you solve it for everybody!!!!
I feel like I may be contradicting myself. I think I should, we all have yin & yang in us.
But while the user-friendliness of Nostr remains "questionable", we may need to focus on our community and help each other out to learn to use it with its current hurdles, as this creates new neurological connections. Challenge is good for our brains, while the work is done to smooth as many kinks to onboard EVERYONE. As in... No vulnerable member of our human specie left behind. Solving all the problems is a paradox, cuz new problems and challenges will always show up.
Agree…one barrier I’ve noticed is some sort of cultural resistance to anything other than Bitcoins/Sats which makes it a bit discouraging to help build the necessary infra knowing it’ll be poorly received.
Those should be implemented as ‘layer 2’ client or server features rather than additions to the NOSTR protocol itself.
let's give the devs a 2 week soon tm deadline 🫂🤙
