Nostr

YOU are the architect of your own destiny, which means you take personal responsibility. This is universal in what I offer in mind-body wellness, Bitcoin, and Nostr.

Nostr is freedom tech:

💜 Free of algorithms

💜 Free of corporations and advertisers

💜 Free of subscription fees, so free to use

💜 Free of having a CEO, founder, or "The Company"

But with freedom comes responsibility.

If you don't like taking responsibility for yourself, your world, and your outcomes—Destiny Architecture® isn't the place for you anyway. 🤷‍♀️

With Nostr, you are responsible for:

💜 Your keys (just like in Bitcoin, but your keys are the public NPUB and private NSEC)

💜 Curating your own experience; if your experience sucks, that's on you

💜 Your reputation

💜 Zapping content you find valuable (a zap is a Bitcoin lightning payment, or "zap" ⚡️ )

💜 Providing content others find valuable

💜 Owning your social graph (by controlling your keys responsibly, building your reputation, and being certain about the notes you post as there is no delete!)

⭐️ Come with an open mind because Nostr is new tech created by devs who often aren't making a dime and/or who may not be funded at all.

Why Nostr?

I've been working for a few years in tech social media marketing and watching the changes as they came—almost daily. I've noticed that people feel entitled to having some form of social media. Most of us want some way to interact with strangers online, follow current events, and express ourselves.

We all know social media is broken. We don't like algorithms, near-constant ads in our feed, obnoxious "influencers," weird misinformation, hate speech, and "trends." We're afraid to "like" or click on anything for fear we will "train the algorithm" to bring us more of that type of content. Social media doesn't feel very social anymore like we can organize ourselves with it. (Remember when you could become "the mayor" of an establishment on Foursquare? Or create real-life meetups from the people you met on Twitter? Fun times...)

We know we want social media, we just don't want it to suck.

Nostr is More Than Social Media

Technically, Nostr is a protocol, not a platform. It fixes the problems of social media and moves us forward as a society. For now, as it's new tech, it takes a little effort and work on the part of those of us who use it.

Nostr Basics:

Here are some tutorials on the basics of how to get started with Nostr:

Bitcoin Rocks will get you onboard fast.

Shoutout to Onigirl for making Nostr newbie guides on Highlighter, a Nostr client.

If you're in Phoenix, please come out to learn more at one of our Nostr PHX events!

Here's one of my favorite resources on Nostr for newbies.

This guide from Alby shares how content creators can be tipped with Bitcoin.

How To Get The Most Out Of Nostr

You get out of Nostr what you put into it. With no algorithm to please, you will really find out what you post and consume—along with why. There is no "trust & safety" department. No one is in charge. No one can censor you or ban you.

But if you're just a dick or spout hate speech, you're not going to make any friends. Most people will just mute you. Reputation is important and notes can't be deleted, so be certain about what you post!

Follow people, as follower counts don't matter. With so many clients and relays, tracking your follower count properly is impossible. Also, who cares? Nostr is going to deflate your ego pretty quickly.

Introduce yourself with #introductions. You've got plenty of space to say whatever you want in a Nostr note. You won't run out of room.

If you have a question, ask it with the hashtag #asknostr.

Post whatever you want on Nostr. There's no strategy to have, no engagement to farm. Just have fun. You get to see the feed chronologically. Just like the old days of Twitter in 2007.

You don't have to be a Bitcoiner to benefit from being on Nostr. You don't have to be a developer. Nostr needs more users to "make it," so those of us who are Nostr maxis are trying to onboard ("purple pill") as many normal people who create non-Bitcoin content as possible. What do you do? What do you share? There's a place for your creativity on Nostr. When people want to value-for-value reward you for it with Bitcoin lightning payments (zaps ⚡️ ), you'll want to get a wallet...

When you give a mouse a cookie... 🍪

Don't like someone's notes because they are a little too spicy for you in whatever way? Mute them. Then you don't have to see their takes again. Simple. The mute button is your friend. Feel free to copy the mute lists of people you follow to further curate your experience.

The magic of Nostr is having your own private key that lets you use whichever clients (apps) you prefer. I use Damus, Primal, Yakihonne, Coracle, and more. Damus is my daily driver and I support the devs who work on it by paying for Damus Purple. Primal is my favorite way to zap others because it's a Nostr client + Bitcoin wallet. I use Yakihone to write blogs that appear neatly on Nostr. Coracle, I mostly use for the calendar and market... Nostr is a world. 🌎

Bitcoin Resources:

Here's an amazing list of Bitcoin resources put together by BitcoinForPeace.org.

This is a work in progress, with more to be added.