• The Nostr Game
• Authenticity
• The End Game

Nostr only is the end goal.

I could just do that today. Walk away from it all. Quietly. Dissappear into the nostr “void” that is actually very much alive.

People here have tried nostr only, only to get back on their platform of choice. It’s not time yet for people who are building to withdraw from other platforms. And if they do, that’s a huge flex.

I’ve been thinking of writing this article for a while. It was this post by @3c6d0...97774 that got me to sit down and ponder a nostr only existence.

May 19, 2026 21:40

Filet beans and lettuce Cabbages, broccoli, and cauliflower

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He’s nostr only and posts about his garden and workouts. How wholesome.

I’m romanticizing this way of social media use because I keep finding myself thinking in algo.

§AlgoThink

I have multiple personality disorder on the internet. Okay not really, but it’s wild the thought process of making content for each app seen below.

So much of my thinking whether i like to admit it or not, comes down to thinking in how can I make a post to get this algo to serve my content.

I feel the pressure on Instagram to post consistently and am super conscious of “hooks”. Even when making a story I’m conscious of if the first story will be hooky.

I know Youtube wants me to niche down so it can serve me to the people who would want to watch.

I somehow don’t care at all who I am on tiktok, i’ll just post with zero effort.

On Twitter I’m basically just a shill. I never come off the app feeling good about myself either.. in fact, i never come off any of the legacy social media apps feeling good about myself.

& on Nostr, well.. i’m definitely a shill, but also just posting what I feel like. It’s made me rethink my behavior on other apps.

Attention is valuable. And one’s ability to hack another’s attention is an asset. It’s all a game. The rules are written by black box algos programmed by corporate incentives. And the winners come home with status & potentially more sales. So one MUST PLAY if they need more status or sales. Simple.

What makes me upset is that these apps completely hack me almost every time i open them. And i know it doesn’t have to be this way.

“Don’t hate the player, hate the game”. well.. we’re creating a new game on Primal & so is the whole nostr ecosystem.

§The Nostr Game

On Nostr, the apps talk together. Same paul, different layouts. Some apps show certain content, some do not.

Let’s imagine the social media landscape today on a Nostr Standard. One ID for IG, TT, YT, X, Rumble and whatever else.

It’s no longer apps fighting for dwellers in their walled gardens, it’s going to be a race to the top in terms of user experience and value for the creators.

Distribution is all any creator or brand wants. At the same time, I think more of us want to have more agency and control over their feeds.

If each app is sorting through the same information (content), there are no longer singular algorithms to game. Some apps may offer a crack algo, some may offer much more personalization and control. Without singular algos to try and game, a creator is left to do nothing but produce value to their audience.

We’ve only had a few corporate lenses through which we view the social media world. These corporate lenses have one incentive, to satisfy their shareholders. In a nostrified world, the power goes to the creators & consumers to choose which service best suits their needs. A plethora of business models would emerge instead of depenence on the ad model.

Would algothink actually turn in to valuethink? Would the apps the serve brainrot actually not be used? Would people be rewarded for their consistency or quality of their posts? Both? Not sure.

§Authenticity

It’s funny how you can feel when content was made for other apps and cross posted to nostr.

Why is that? Is it because nobody has a solid vertical scroll yet so it doesn’t flow right quite yet in the feed? Or is it because there’s no algo (yet) optimizing for eyeball staring. Better than eyeball staring, we have zaps which transmute digital scarcity (value) in return for the value someone provided.

Gigi sums it up very well in this presentation.

Authentic beings will thrive on interoperable social media standard.

§The End Game

Offline is the new luxury and being nostr only today is a status symbol.

We’re only just figuring out how to interact with each other on the internet. It’s brief history has been tainted by bad incentives and centralization.

Nostr is a part of “new earth” technology that people in my circles talk about. We need a reset or at least an option for those who care to stop fueling big tech with their every scroll.

Truth is, i have no idea how this plays out. I believe a healthy social media is attainable. That’s the goal. And the interoperability nostr provides is imperative to keep a social media system accountable and to keep free speech alive.

As the meme in the title implies, humanity is messy so of course social media will be messy. There will be no perfect solutions.

What would i be posting in a world where we’ve already won? Probably just waves, family, and invitations to jungle shennanigans.

pv.