seth on Nostr: Lots of good perspective here, well written ...

Lots of good perspective here, well written

quoting note1q97…a6tl

Time stands still under @nobody timelines, as at least two women who were frequent nostr posters stopped using nostr recently. The reasons are complex and varied, but it offers an opportunity to talk about possible ways that may help guide conversations toward more signal.

When it comes to dealing with hate, abuse, and behavior that could be described as unhealthy, most social media looks at adding *rules of what not to do*. However, we should question how well that approach has worked in the past on other social networks, if it is likely to scale, and whether nostr may be much better suited for finding different solutions.

Social media is complicated, just like the people who speak their voices through it. Unfortunately, some people can create chaos to scare and quiet down other voices, in particular, those of women. Some social media attacks can feel personal and disruptive. As they carry on over time, they can wear people down, making them more sensitive to everyday conversations. A voice lost to an unhealthy environment is a voice too many.

note1fpr…yytd

## The what not to do approach.

Most platforms have tried to deal with abuse by trying to remove anything related to reported cases and other learnings across time. It is a difficult labor, because what is “acceptable” content depends on the times, context, and culture. Although there may be moments where these actions could be useful, they run the risk of not being specific enough or their use being misunderstood, over-applied, or gamed.

By adding parameters of what is not acceptable, unexpected content may fall under that umbrella. For example, words used in gaming can reflect violence. Sometimes, conversations within black communities can carry more expletives. People can misread, misunderstand, or feel offended by sarcasm, memes, and subcultures. Sometimes, removing specific words can prevent people from discussing serious matters, like those who are trying to bring awareness to an issue, or educational information to prevent further harm from a difficult situation.

No solution is perfect, and, sometimes, in trying to create a “safe” environment, the results are very different from the desired effects. Muting, blocking and removing certain words or people could be abused to quiet down those voices nostr is trying to protect and encourage. People can find ways around these rules to still get chaotic content through.

As social media scales, the content that needs to be removed can become an unwieldy number. Aside from reports, numerous man hours of content review, and the catch-all-word, algorithms, take over. Concentrating most efforts on what to remove, could easily become too broad a brush, leading to the opposite effect of what nostr is trying to avoid: censorship.

There are no silver bullets, but that does not mean there aren’t other options.

## What if, instead, we focus on what to do?


We should not overlook what protects us: our people, those real people whose voices we choose to follow. They may be the best compass on the information worthwhile.


### Web of trust tools

I remember earlier days, when the global feed was messier. Damus had added the option to blur images for people you did not follow. We had some early spamming incidents, that I did not notice, until people I followed started speaking about them, because all of those images were blurred for my global feed. I still keep that feature on.

A web of trust allows us to give priority to the content of the people we follow, often extending to the content of the people they follow. Various web of trust tools are already in use in different clients. If these features improve over time and are more widely adopted, people may reach more of the content they want without the extra noise.


#### Possible features

**Replies**

Showing top replies as those of the people you follow and who they follow. The rest of the replies could be hidden under an extra click.

An additional option could narrow down replies to only follows, or open it up to everyone, if you’re comfortable with that.

**DM’s**

Priority section for your web of trust, based on what you're comfortable with:

* People you have replied to
* People you follow
* People you follow and their follows
* A specific list of people of your choice

Have the option of removing people from your main DM’s tab.

**Mentions and Notifications**

I have not yet heard of a similar treatment for mentions, like that of DM’s, but it could ease some of the negativity if priority was given to what you’re most comfortable with:

* People you follow
* People you follow and their follows
* A specific list of people of your choice
* Everyone

**Your People**

* Easy-to-spot icon that you follow someone
* Icon for someone within your network
* Impostor flags on cloned accounts you do not follow
* Showing the people you follow are following someone you're thinking of following

**What are other possible tools for Web of Trust?**

### Content Discovery

Another important aspect for keeping the signal high on nostr is content discovery. Global has been shifting more and more to topic based discovery. A good step forward. If people are able to find more conversations around the topics they love, their experience is likely to be more positive, and to go deeper. This may lead them to discover unique niche communities with supportive like-minded people. This focus on topics may help lead attention to signal rather than noise.

An issue may be spam on hashtags, which is often content discovery for topics. We tend to follow hashtags and see that within our home feed. If the hashtags start getting spammy, what would be good solutions? Perhaps global feed should be specific to topics, and home feed for the people we follow. Making it easier to unfollow hashtags and discover new ones.

Topic hashtags could also be limited to our follows or network, but that would prevent some of the discovery process and be more likely to lead to echo chambers.

Perhaps navigation could be simplified with just one home feed, instead of global and home, but with options to switch between different options: List of follows, follows follows, topics, specific lists you put together, curated lists, communities, specific relays, all…

### What is the default?

Settings are an obscure feature that shines on nostr with unique choices. However, if people join nostr used to the workings of other apps, they are unlikely to make it into the Settings. Some protective features could be considered as defaults. Other options for customization could be displayed within specific elements without needing to go into the settings.

As feeds offer more choices for looking at your content, there may be good ways to limit or open up content shown, based on how you’re feeling and what social situations you may be in. If you’re getting too much noise, you may want to add more limits on the content you see. If you’re trying to discover something new, you may want to explore and remove some of the limits.

### Outbox model

Another present-future feature of nostr will be relying on the outbox relay model. It offers the possibility of retrieving the notes for those people who matter the most to you. It doesn't matter where people post, outbox will retrieve the notes, even from a small relay, hence, preventing their censorship. Perhaps then, blastr’s purpose will shift from sending your notes out to most relays, into making sure everyone knows where to find your notes by sending out your latest relay list and profile information.

### Delete vs. Zen

Deleting something is often a defensive measure. Unfortunately, it is an avenue often taken by those getting bullied in some way, instead of by those generating the chaos. What we often miss when we feel attacked is that having a voice on social media is an important meaningful aspect of our lives. The need to restart your social media experience takes time, and nostr will miss out on your perspective.

Although our notes remain on nostr, if someone is in need of time off, there could be a midway option before choosing to delete. A “zen mode” could be activated for those moments where you need a little time off or to tone down the noise. The app you use could toggle-on all those features that can improve on health. Your notifications could be turned off, all of your mentions and feeds could be limited to follows. Perhaps you could even segment your follows to only see specific accounts on your home feed of those people closest to you.

## Practicing the Art of Zenstr


We can all have difficult situations to deal with, whether in our personal lives, work lives, or how we connect and interact on social media. They seem separate, but they’re all a part of us, and what is happening in one area of our lives can affect the rest. As we dive into nostr, we may notice that the changes in incentives are leading to product features that care more about promoting a healthy environment. Nostr cares about its people. Timelines are not focused on incendiary notes that lead to more attention and hence more ad sales, but we can still run into negative feedback loops or the rare but loud voice who wants to generate conflict.

When we run into inflammatory comments, we must ask ourselves: Is it constructive to react to this note? If we feel too emotional, chances are, it may be time to step away from the screen for a while, refresh our spirit, and come back in a healthier way.

What if we can also ask what we can do to improve nostr? Is there content you wish existed? Can you create it? Is there a conversation you wish you could have, ask the questions. Start the hashtags. Be what you wish nostr was.

Only comment on what you feel comfortable replying to. Ignore the noise.

Being on nostr also means unlearning. Social media has placed more focus on reporting and cancel culture, but people on nostr are instead trying to learn from each other, respecting each other’s views and trying to share information you may be unaware of. It could be through a weird meme, but that’s nostr. We can be a little weird.

As people try to protect themselves from content they dislike, mute and block may be first on their mind, in some difficult cases, that may only be a temporary fix as people could circumvent that with additional npubs. The opposite is also true, you could flag someone for a single post, without paying any attention to what their voice offers on nostr, or without digging deeper into what they tried to say. Reading text is not the same as listening to people, sometimes we can give people a chance. Just because we disagree in points of view, does not mean we cannot learn something from each other.

On more chaotic cases, however, where you are experiencing abuse on nostr, do not hesitate to ask for help from the people in your community and make it known to developers on nostr. The product makers can help. In learning from your experience, you may help people have better tools to shape a healthier nostr in the future. You are not alone, and you can be a part of the solution.

As Web of Trust gets stronger, it is less likely that people who are only trying to create chaos will be able to get their messages across. People wanting conversation are unlikely to follow them, hence, not receiving their noise.

We can all use personal time away from screens, but out of choice, not out of need to leave an unhealthy environment. People should have more tools to help shape their nostr home in whichever way they want it to be. Nostr has always been about choice. Knowing that you can arrive on nostr and have a voice is a gift. We should protect it.