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Advertisement disclaimer. Bluesky is a VC-funded corporate network that expects return on investment while saying it is open. Up until the present date that sa

Advertisement disclaimer. Bluesky is a VC-funded corporate network that expects return on investment while saying it is open. Up until the present date that same company made it difficult for anyone to run their own server, only permitting to self-host their own data rather than the promoted decentralized open data: https://www.theverge.com/2024/2/22/24080334/bluesky-self-hosting-servers-data-federated https://www.theverge.com/2024/2/22/24080334/bluesky-self-hos... It also restricts anyone from adding their algorithms or even create new clients to access the data. It is a _defacto_ walled garden that somehow gets promoted on mainstream media. The same media that largely ignored open platforms, or when mentioning them has adopted a negative tone. That media has forgot that the same brazilian person they called names is now living in a country under effective control with walled gardens: https://www.businessinsider.com/jack-dorsey-fiatjaf-nostr-donation-2024-6 https://www.businessinsider.com/jack-dorsey-fiatjaf-nostr-do... The same ignored Nostr counts today with +700 volunteer-based servers that are decentralized and permit anyone, anywhere, to publish their own texts: https://nostr.watch/relays/find https://nostr.watch/relays/find HN, it is time to make a stand if you want to keep the internet free.

Kye 2y ago
Anyone can make a feed (algorithm). There are multiple independent projects that can access and put stuff on PDSes. There are lots of clients. They just added OAuth to make it easier for them. https://docs.bsky.app/showcase https://docs.bsky.app/showcase I have no idea where you got your information but you should treat that source as unreliable.
mrinfinitiesx 2y ago
Agreed. Make a stand. Open and free internet is the last bastion. Look at everything. We're not the god damned product. We're not advertisement data. I'm not a fucking ROI. We're human beings, and we enjoy the internet, hacker culture. We're visionaries. We tinker. We build. We share. Seeing what the internet grew to from the 90s to now, is ...well you see it.
- bschmidt1 2y ago
  It went from being a potentially infinite public creative/informational space to a privately owned strip mall with a few boring shops where you have to show your ID to get in. Same thing happens with any neat physical location too - gets commercialized to hell, becomes totally ruined and boring by last-movers, commandeered by academics who act like they invented it, and productized by capitalists who want to turn any/all freely available blessings into expensive yet shoddy products (plus ads). What once presented a true and superior alternative to the mainstream firehose of advertising and propaganda became "Fox News Presents The Donald Trump's Presidential Campaign Show (Sponsored by SquareSpace), With Your Hosts Kim Kardashian and Jake Paul!" just like the radio, film, etc. - it gets commercialized/ruined. We need a new thing, bsky aint it.
CuriousCosmic 2y ago
> Up until the present date that same company made it difficult for anyone to run their own server, only permitting to self-host their own data rather than the promoted decentralized open data > It also restricts anyone from adding their algorithms or even create new clients to access the data. It is a _defacto_ walled garden that somehow gets promoted on mainstream media This is not remotely close to true and the verge article you picked was from the initial rollout of federation which was only 2 weeks after they got rid of invite codes and the service became public. ---------- Feed generators (aka the algorithm) are open. You can create your own feeds and their app literally has a UX for adding new feeds. Labelling and Moderation services are also federated. And data storage like you mentioned. And the "firehose" (the event relays). And even the app-view system/API services. Oh and of course the Bluesky app's web, android, and iOS implementations are open sourced as well. There are certainly some things they still control but that's because this project is still actively being developed to basic feature completeness. An example of that is the primary DID format used for defining accounts. The standard DNS record based DID format is federated by it's nature but ATProto's in house DID format is still limited to their instance until they can get it to a production state where they feel comfortable opening it up to federation (like they have every other aspect of their codebase so far). I'm actually not sure how they could be more open about their push for federation. They want to relegate themselves to the position of developer and infrastructure maintainer as quickly as possible and their work has all been towards that effort.
- cma 2y ago
  They do need to disclose their corporate charter.
  - _heimdall 2y ago
    Is that really important in your opinion? I can't remember the last time I saw a corporate charter that was more than vague corporate speak sounding grandiose and impactful while saying absolutely nothing.
    - cma 2y ago
ryan29 2y ago
I tried skimming the docs, but couldn’t find how domain verification works on Nostr. Does a verified domain work as your handle or only as a verified domain? That’s my favorite feature in Bluesky. I don’t need to worry about a handle since I can just use my domain.
- nunobrito 2y ago
  Domain verification is NIP05, here is a tutorial: https://nostr.how/en/guides/get-verified https://nostr.how/en/guides/get-verified Basically create json file on your site at /.well-known/nostr.json Place inside your username and the npub, done.
  - LauraMedia 2y ago
    So instead of just using a domain TXT record you're required to host a page and provide access to this file? Seems worse than how AtProto handle's this.
    - nunobrito 2y ago
      That is a wrong assumption. First: You can easily host a million user handles on a JSON file without impact on the website, you cannot host a million user handles as TXT record. Second: It is far easier to update a JSON file on disk than using an API to a specific domain registrar provider and change TXT records there.
mepian 2y ago
>is a VC-funded corporate network that expects return on investment while saying it is open >Nostr Do you mean the same Nostr that is backed by Jack Dorsey, the Twitter billionaire?
- nunobrito 2y ago
  There is a difference between revenge-donations and VC-funded business. One of them is pissed enough to break walled-gardens and that donation is now sponsoring multiple open source projects from small developers that even yourself can check in the open how they are used. What is the VC corporate money sponsoring at that company? Right.
strangattractor 2y ago
> "HN, it is time to make a stand if you want to keep the internet free." That ship sailed long ago:(
- evbogue 2y ago
  Is this a Scuttlebot joke?
srid 2y ago
What are some popular user accounts on Nostr?
- nunobrito 2y ago
  You can check that here: https://primal.net/explore/global/trending https://primal.net/explore/global/trending

Kye 2y ago

Anyone can make a feed (algorithm). There are multiple independent projects that can access and put stuff on PDSes. There are lots of clients. They just added OAuth to make it easier for them. https://docs.bsky.app/showcase https://docs.bsky.app/showcase I have no idea where you got your information but you should treat that source as unreliable.

mrinfinitiesx 2y ago

Agreed. Make a stand. Open and free internet is the last bastion. Look at everything. We're not the god damned product. We're not advertisement data. I'm not a fucking ROI. We're human beings, and we enjoy the internet, hacker culture. We're visionaries. We tinker. We build. We share. Seeing what the internet grew to from the 90s to now, is ...well you see it.

bschmidt1 2y ago
It went from being a potentially infinite public creative/informational space to a privately owned strip mall with a few boring shops where you have to show your ID to get in. Same thing happens with any neat physical location too - gets commercialized to hell, becomes totally ruined and boring by last-movers, commandeered by academics who act like they invented it, and productized by capitalists who want to turn any/all freely available blessings into expensive yet shoddy products (plus ads). What once presented a true and superior alternative to the mainstream firehose of advertising and propaganda became "Fox News Presents The Donald Trump's Presidential Campaign Show (Sponsored by SquareSpace), With Your Hosts Kim Kardashian and Jake Paul!" just like the radio, film, etc. - it gets commercialized/ruined. We need a new thing, bsky aint it.

CuriousCosmic 2y ago

> Up until the present date that same company made it difficult for anyone to run their own server, only permitting to self-host their own data rather than the promoted decentralized open data > It also restricts anyone from adding their algorithms or even create new clients to access the data. It is a _defacto_ walled garden that somehow gets promoted on mainstream media This is not remotely close to true and the verge article you picked was from the initial rollout of federation which was only 2 weeks after they got rid of invite codes and the service became public. ---------- Feed generators (aka the algorithm) are open. You can create your own feeds and their app literally has a UX for adding new feeds. Labelling and Moderation services are also federated. And data storage like you mentioned. And the "firehose" (the event relays). And even the app-view system/API services. Oh and of course the Bluesky app's web, android, and iOS implementations are open sourced as well. There are certainly some things they still control but that's because this project is still actively being developed to basic feature completeness. An example of that is the primary DID format used for defining accounts. The standard DNS record based DID format is federated by it's nature but ATProto's in house DID format is still limited to their instance until they can get it to a production state where they feel comfortable opening it up to federation (like they have every other aspect of their codebase so far). I'm actually not sure how they could be more open about their push for federation. They want to relegate themselves to the position of developer and infrastructure maintainer as quickly as possible and their work has all been towards that effort.

cma 2y ago
They do need to disclose their corporate charter.
- _heimdall 2y ago
  Is that really important in your opinion? I can't remember the last time I saw a corporate charter that was more than vague corporate speak sounding grandiose and impactful while saying absolutely nothing.
  - cma 2y ago

ryan29 2y ago

I tried skimming the docs, but couldn’t find how domain verification works on Nostr. Does a verified domain work as your handle or only as a verified domain? That’s my favorite feature in Bluesky. I don’t need to worry about a handle since I can just use my domain.

nunobrito 2y ago
Domain verification is NIP05, here is a tutorial: https://nostr.how/en/guides/get-verified https://nostr.how/en/guides/get-verified Basically create json file on your site at /.well-known/nostr.json Place inside your username and the npub, done.
- LauraMedia 2y ago
  So instead of just using a domain TXT record you're required to host a page and provide access to this file? Seems worse than how AtProto handle's this.
  - nunobrito 2y ago
    That is a wrong assumption. First: You can easily host a million user handles on a JSON file without impact on the website, you cannot host a million user handles as TXT record. Second: It is far easier to update a JSON file on disk than using an API to a specific domain registrar provider and change TXT records there.

mepian 2y ago

>is a VC-funded corporate network that expects return on investment while saying it is open >Nostr Do you mean the same Nostr that is backed by Jack Dorsey, the Twitter billionaire?

nunobrito 2y ago
There is a difference between revenge-donations and VC-funded business. One of them is pissed enough to break walled-gardens and that donation is now sponsoring multiple open source projects from small developers that even yourself can check in the open how they are used. What is the VC corporate money sponsoring at that company? Right.

strangattractor 2y ago

> "HN, it is time to make a stand if you want to keep the internet free." That ship sailed long ago:(

evbogue 2y ago
Is this a Scuttlebot joke?

srid 2y ago

What are some popular user accounts on Nostr?

nunobrito 2y ago
You can check that here: https://primal.net/explore/global/trending https://primal.net/explore/global/trending