The separation of app and content

By Leo Wandersleb April 6, 2023
By allowing to separate the content from the app, nostr builds a powerful network effect where apps can tap into existing content and content can be interpreted by many apps.
The separation of app and content

I'm #spending a lot of time on nostr and my mind is regularly blown by how content is separated or freed from design and UI there. People share "tweets" using one software and others read them in a dozen of other prominent or hundreds of nascent clients, each showing aspects differently. But there are also long-form clients that feel more like substack or medium and others focus on media content and feel more like Instagram and the clients overlap in what content they show:

## A Bounty is a long-form post is a social post

For example a [page focused on nostr development bounties](https://nostrbounties.com/b/naddr1qq9rzd3h8y6nqwf5xyuqygzxljlrqe027xh8sy2xtyjwfzfrxcll8afxh4hh847psjckhkxwf5psgqqqw4rsty50fx) shows bounties like this:

![](https://nostr.build/i/nostr.build_12dcaa5343cb64826904ce979fa102cfd4946bfc1240df2839ef96a1b3609d48.png)

![](https://nostr.build/i/nostr.build_bce2738af2fd2c1ba7e8a6837f338163e17016631334cc8e46624cea3f1560f6.png).

Notice how Habla supports replying, zapping and liking ... and does list additional pledges.

But as the content is not bound to just Habla.news, [other instances](open source software(https://github.com/verbiricha/habla) by @verbiricha also show them.

But these replies are the Twitter-like "kind 1" messages that make it into your feed on social clients like [Snort](Nostrgram(https://nostrgram.co) and these clients also try to show you what the comments were in reply to.

Nostrgram and others now support long form content and show what originated in a bounty platform really nicely:

![](https://nostr.build/i/nostr.build_b41f5f5492887e71acb3a2a4512b599758d62972eebb678652cc2cb3fdd6592c.png)

Notice how other bounty pledges are not listed but you can suddenly zap the bounty post - and zaps do work of course without the website taking a cut.

## What could possibly go wrong?

But of course this also has its down side. Now, the author of the website suddenly has to deal with unexpected content.

Here is how Snort currently deals with Bounty posts:

![](https://nostr.build/i/nostr.build_62c68ad6be1bb97e54f62fa00f0c2c86119e08762fe947de42f5d54409c8a4ae.png)

## Will all public content migrate to Nostr?

In many cases liberating the content makes sense but it currently has its limits. Reasons to use nostr for your project's content might be:

  • Actual concerns about censorship: If the content must not get lost if your project gets into legal trouble, nostr is for you
  • Tap into the broader nostr ecosystem to give your project visibility: If nostr social talking about and liking your content like bounties is helpful exposure, nostr might be for you
  • Open Standards and seamless login: If you want people to bring their established identity to your platform, nostr might be for you.
  • Proven transparency: If your site sparks debates, you might "moderate" some content for your users but with other nostr clients anybody can expose your acts of moderation as censorship if you judged poorly. That keeps you honest and users can know if they are being spoon-fed your version or not.

    • But some projects might need more control than what nostr currently provides:

  • If you need tight control of the user experience, nostr might not be for you. This might apply if you target minors for example.
  • If your project has "haters" with big incentives to sabotage your project, nostr is probably not for you. Monsanto, Ku Klux Klan, ... come to mind.
  • Shared content ownership: We don't know yet how to do [Wikipedia on nostr](naddr1qqdxsmmh23h5xmmwwdhkc6tyv96x2nr0den5vmmjd4zkuqgswaehxw309ahx7tnnw3ezucmj9uq36amnwvaz7tmwdaehgu3wvf5hgcm0d9hx2u3wwdhkx6tpdshszythwden5te0dehhxarj9emkjmn99uq32amnwvaz7tmjv4kxz7fwv3sk6atn9e5k7tcppemhxue69uhkummn9ekx7mp0qgsydl97xpj74udw0qg5vkfyujyjxd3l706jd0t0w0turp93d0vvungrqsqqqa286fvnkc). If you are dealing with content that has multiple authors, nostr is not yet for you.

    • ## Why did I write this article?

    I'm exploring how to improve trust in my project [WalletScrutiny.com](Bitcoin Design Community(GitHub(Slack(Substack(Dog App(nostr plugin(https://github.com/WalletScrutiny/nostr-opinion-plugin) that allows Nostriches to comment on wallet reviews but that leaves us in the awkward situation that the comments reply to some non-nostr content which doesn't really help with our content going viral.

    I'm now thinking that all the reviews should be nostr long-form content. WalletScrutiny being open source would allow anybody to copy the content anyway but with the content being on nostr, the discoverability and transparency would greatly improve.

    WalletScrutiny would only show reviews by approved authors but would instantly have a great incentive to open up to reasonable contributions - or turn obsolete if another team does a better job.

    #nostr #decentralization
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