Rabble on Nostr: Exploring Nostr as a Replacement for Old School Online Forums This week, I had an ...

Exploring Nostr as a Replacement for Old School Online Forums


This week, I had an enlightening conversation with the team at Bamboo, a digital agency in Aotearoa New Zealand, about leveraging Nostr for communities. Bamboo supports organizations in establishing and nurturing online communities, primarily using basic web forum software. While this software is straightforward and manageable, hosted on their own servers, it's not quite hitting the mark. Engagement is low; people aren't sharing much, often forgetting to revisit or open emails. They're looking for something more dynamic, akin to Nostr.


The communities Bamboo works with aren't overly concerned about censorship, but they do value a sense of privacy and effective community moderation. Currently, their forums are moderated by a few designated volunteers who can delete content and interact with contributors. Unlike Reddit-style communities, there's no need for post approval queues.


However, there's a definite interest in privacy, though not necessarily requiring robust encryption. It could be as simple as restricting community access to specific relay connections, or encoding posts with a shared key – akin to a house lock, which is secure but not impervious to a determined intruder.


I believe Nostr can meet these needs. We're close, but there are challenges to address, particularly in making it straightforward for users to connect and engage with these community spaces using existing Nostr apps. Ideally, there should be clear instructions for web, iOS, and Android platforms. For instance, if someone installs the Amethyst app, they should be able to join a community easily, perhaps through a simple link.


For web users, the process might involve installing Amethyst, then clicking a link that directly ushers them into the community. This process still seems a bit complex, and simplifying it remains a challenge. A direct web sign-up process, similar to PABLOF7z (npub1l2v…ajft)'s new web login, could be effective. Users could request to join a community or relay through a Nostr link, and relay operators would manage these requests and monitor joiners.


Moderators would need tools to oversee posts and flag inappropriate content within their community. While end-to-end encryption is appealing, it's crucial that it doesn't complicate the joining and participating process. Users should easily understand if they're posting within their specific community and not to the broader Nostr network. Similarly, viewing content should be streamlined to focus on community-specific interactions.



One option is we make it clear what relays host what content, provide info on joining a relay, finding it, adding it, posting to it. 



Another option is we modify / extend the communities that satellite.earth and amethyst support. 


Another would be…..?


In summary, while Nostr presents a promising alternative to traditional online forums, there's work to be done. We need to refine some underlying technical aspects and, more importantly, develop a user experience and apps that facilitate easy and engaging community interaction.
This feels like a really good way to grow nostr, I hear folks with a clear need.