Terry Frazier

I run into this a lot. It is a barrier for me in using/connecting wallets (and other BTC/LN stuff) because I choose not to run GPS. I know there are valid reasons many #android devs use it, but it is still a barrier for me.
_Maybe_ #muun will actually work without it. I haven't gotten that far. Yet.
I am open to recommendations for wallets known to work without it. #asknostr
This is my first attempt at including an image in a note with #amethyst. https://image.nostr.build/60867cf1cee3a453144d90c16d66e84bff8dd3054a81548cf60cd739442c56f0.jpg

2024-09-02 20:23:54

Good questions but outside my expertise. Right now I want to be able to deploy a node or relay with the same simplicity as I can currently deploy blogging or forum software. On my server/VPS. If I had that, I'd be a happy camper, for now.
#selfhost
#nevent1q…2ufp

2024-09-02 15:33:01

The only time I ever experienced this really working was in the early days of blogging - ca. 2002-2004 or thereabouts. You could engage with smart people you didn't know and have interesting conversations. I developed a number of long-term friendships during that period.
But centralized SM has never worked that way for me. Too many people preening, looking for their "audience" of "followers," some competing to be the snarkiest person in the room, some trying (always failing) to show they're the smartest person in the room - like a dystopian scifi novel.
#nevent1q…99ah

2024-09-02 14:52:40

Gm, #nostr.
My current practice is to block and hide commenters:
- who ignore (or don't care about) the context of the original post
- who appear to have not even read the original post
- who subtract value from any potential conversation which might arise from the original post
While quote-posting commenters and others who:
- add a relevant idea which had not occurred to me
- point out a legitimate flaw in, or alternative to, my reasoning
- disagree with me is a way that adds value to any potential conversation which might arise from the og post.
I have never had this approach work for very long on the centralized SMs. It rapidly devolves into something which is boring and uninspiring. Let's see if #nostr is different.

2024-09-02 14:33:23

I have had a VPS for 15 years, run my own domains, email, blogs, websites, surveys, galleries, etc. Ran NextCloud for a while. Manage my own small business infrastructure. Stuff like that. But I can do all that without having to login thru a terminal, run a bunch of apt commands, deal with dependencies, etc.
I would install ditto this afternoon, but I'm not going to do this: https://docs.soapbox.pub/ditto/install
It's way outside my comfort zone.
(Note to well-meaning but misguided commenters: Kindly refrain from "bro, it's not that hard" comments. I don't care. If you believe "it's not that hard," you're part of the problem.)
#selfhost
#nevent1q…pjns

2024-09-02 13:58:46

This ⬇️⬇️. Good summary.
#nevent1q…taac

2024-09-02 13:49:00

This is the first time I'm aware of 404 Media and/or /futurism. The linked gizmodo article relys on the same 404 Media reference doc as /futurism. But the linked CMG blog post does still seem to be on the wayback machine, and the linked WaPo article is as limp-wristed a debunking attempt as I've ever read.
Kinda seems like the real deal being highlighted here - your phone really is listening to you.
#privacy
#nevent1q…0kw7

2024-09-02 00:36:27

Here's what I suspect is happening when cloudflare puts up a 5- to 7-second delay with a spin screen and a simple captcha to "verify you are human":
A device fingerprint is being created.
The captcha itself is superfluous - a pretense that some human interaction is needed. But none is.
So there's a new fingerprint, but to be any use it must be compared to something - some collection of previous fingerprints or known attributes or something. So there's a database somewhere. And there must be a comparative analysis - so there's an algo running to determine next action.
I'm 99% sure of the above. What I don't know is:
- what is happening to the newly-created fingerprint? Is it deleted (I doubt it)? Is it being added to a database somewhere?
- If added to a database, who controls it, what other PII attributes does it contain, and who has access to it.
- where did the original database come from? Did cloudflare start from zero and build their own? If not, who provided it, what PII attributes does it contain, and who had access to it?
Whatever the answers to the above, I assume the database is kept forever and, with a simple request from a suitably powerful or politically connected agency - can be used to match device fingerprints in other databases, providing at least a partial record of sites a specific individual visited using a #vpn
#nevent1q…9l35

2024-09-01 23:16:34

We cannot have too much legit, non-stupid information about #privacy on #nostr (or anywhere else for that matter.) I am not someone who expects a lot from the general public but, holy $hit, it seems like some sort of universal contest going on for dumbest privacy belief/comment.
#nevent1q…8e30

2024-09-01 21:45:39

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There is an endless need for legitimate, non-stupid #privacy information - in the nostrverse and everywhere else. For reasons I do not quite grasp, it seems much too common for social users to hold child-like, naive views about what privacy is, why we don't have any, how to get some back, and the level of effort required to maintain it. Also about the level of sophistication of those on the other side.
Good luck and Godspeed.

2024-08-31 16:14:42

I'm not saying the explanation you propose is impossible. It isn't. It's just highly improbable. Why dont you elaborate on why you think a $1.2 Billion company with 20 years of R&D in threat identification, which was founded on the idea of identifying (email) spam, and was one of the first (maybe the originator of) "firewall in the cloud" services lacks the technical sophistication to identify legitimate connections from known VPN sources without imposing a captcha delay - a method which is, at best, of limited value in identifying bots.
"It's too complicated for them" is just not sufficient.
#nevent1q…cpre

2024-08-31 15:08:28

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At the simplest level, imposing a captcha delay on VPN-originated connections may just be punitive - a penalty for attempts to opt out of surveillance marketing systems.
But it isn't much of a reach to suspect more detailed analysis occurs, with ongoing attempts at individual user identification to pierce VPN pseudonymity.

2024-08-31 14:54:17

It is easy enough to identify legit IP addresses for known VPNs - just like it's easy to identify known IP addresses for major email list providers such as mailChimp or Amazon SES.
Your suggestion may well be another excuse they offer, but it's not a technically valid reason.
#nevent1q…c2hk

2024-08-31 14:38:00

I would like to know what is actually, technically going on behind the scenes when #cloudflare throws a captcha just because I'm using a #VPN, claims it has detected "suspicious activity," and needs to "verify I am human."
I'm 90%+ sure neither of these stated justifications is honest and do not represent what's really happening.
It is much more likely, IMO, cloudflare is making some attempt at identifying me in order to sell marketing data - probably some pattern match of device profile to a known identity database. But I don't really know and would like to.
#askNostr

2024-08-31 13:52:55

Never gonna give up on clownish AI assistants.
#nevent1q…rqcu

2024-08-31 02:00:55

I didn't join #nostr with any intent to stop using [insert centralized social platform here]. I'm here on an exploration, not a crusade. Nevertheless, I've quickly found myself spending more time on nostr than any other - even though I have several fairly large Twitter/X lists following people (almost none on nostr) in certain niches where I like to stay up to date.
Now that's quite probably due to the newness and exploratory nature of my experience. But I see great potential here - even with the "Beta test" nature of it all.
Relays should be as easy to deploy as WordPress instances. Ditto for media servers. Being able to spin one up via relay.tools is a good start, as is being able to buy your own preconfigured hardware/software node from an umbrel or Start9.
I'd like to be able to deploy one on the VPS I already have, located in a data center I like, run by people I know. Unless there is some technical barrier I've missed, any decent VPS ought to be able to run it.
Hopefully that day will come soon .

2024-08-31 01:11:21

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Greatly appreciated!

2024-08-31 01:08:40

I do not trust AI to tell me about history, law, science or other topics where I cannot easily and quickly verify its outputs, as I generally have no idea about its inputs, nor about its parameters for analysis. But I do use it quite a bit to analyze bits of code and help me change and customize stuff.
For instance, I do not really know CSS, HTML, PHP, RegEx, twig, yaml, XML, etc.I'm not even particularly good with the Linux command line. But I can feed some code snippet to an AI, tell it what I want to accomplish, and have it analyze the snippet and give me suggested changes. I can then test the changes and verify the results.
I used this technique to #selfhost my NIP-05 address and avatar so I don't have to rely on a third-party service. Trivial tasks really, but useful for me.
My preferred AI for this type of work is currently perplexity.AI for two reasons:
- I don't have to login if I don't want to
- perplexity links to multiple sources for its reply so I can dig in further if needed

2024-08-31 00:49:22

@nprofile…pyug, I un-/reinstalled Amethyst from F-Droid today and the standard "like" symbols are missing/replaced by rocketship, googly eyes, etc. Is this intentional change or something else?

2024-08-31 00:26:15

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FWIW, there is no share modal avail when I choose either "Database export" or "OPML export" in AntennaPod. There is only a local file save option. I look forward to the update.

2024-08-31 00:02:15

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Thank you! I will give it a third try.

2024-08-31 00:00:41

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I had an existing .htaccess. it already had a line in it to allow access to /.well-known while restricting access to everything else. However, the line was different. I had to ask perplexity.ai for assistance in analyzing the .htaccess file to discover that I had caused an error by adding a redundant line.

2024-08-30 23:56:11

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You will see it in the part of the app description which states the "Requirements" at the google play store. Users of the Aurora Store interface to Google Play may see it listed under the app name.

2024-08-30 15:58:30

@nprofile…tcva, this is a test. Can you reply to this please.

2024-08-30 14:45:42

#askNostr #nostrDevs
What I meant to ask is whether any nostrDevs are working on packaging up the necessary code to install a relay on a hosted VPS, similar to how WordPress, Lime Survey, MediaWiki or other server-side software can be installed via Softaculous?
#nevent1q…0ffg

2024-08-30 14:24:09

Any #nostrDevs working on to/from content publishing with the #grav cms? #askNostr

2024-08-30 14:19:23

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This is Vitor Pamplona's start on describing best practices for relays

2024-08-30 14:15:12

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I'm not sure the following is gonna work, but let's see. https://njump.me/naddr1qq9hyetvv9uj6um9w36hqq3qgcxzte5zlkncx26j68ez60fzkvtkm9e0vrwdcvsjakxf9mu9qewqxpqqqp65wjvcq4q

2024-08-30 13:51:21

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You can do the same with nostr. If I type your nostr name into the search bar of my client it brings your profile right up.

2024-08-30 03:49:49

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https://nips.nostr.com/96
HTTP File Storage Integration

2024-08-30 02:31:59

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Could be .htaccess problem. Just a guess. I followed a similar setup to get mine working and I'm an idiot. So it's not hard, just fiddly. And .htaccess was most fiddly, for me. Go to perplexity.AI and ask it questions about putting NIP-05 json file in /.well-known and setting up .htaccess. Or @askDave

2024-08-29 16:28:32

Can a nostr relay be packaged like a server app in softaculous for ppl to do simple installs on #selfhost servers/vps/etc?
#askNostr

2024-08-29 15:27:18

@nprofile…wzja
The other day you mentioned fediverse. It looks like this guy might be a good follow for anyone interested in both domains: @nprofile…al0v

2024-08-29 15:08:34

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I know very little about ditto.pub, and don't use iOS or primal. However, you might consider not using ditto.pub and interacting directly with the nostr network and other relays.

2024-08-29 15:03:53

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Is this an intermediary or gateway-type function?

2024-08-29 15:02:19

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How does ditto.pub work?

2024-08-29 15:00:58

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Do you know anything about ditto.pub?

2024-08-29 14:59:27

@nprofile…tcva
Dave, is nostr a serverless protocol?

2024-08-29 14:20:57

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Thanks, dave!

2024-08-29 14:18:39

@nprofile…tcva is this how I "tag" another user on #nostr? #askNostr

2024-08-29 04:47:01

I appreciate it, but I am not smart enough to be able to receive zaps yet. 🤣 Thanks anyway!
#nevent1q…q4fy

2024-08-29 04:45:21

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One more comment which is #offTopic but tangential regarding #amethyst. Primal did not work for me because I do not run Google Play. It gave an error "requires Google Play."
Amethyst, among many other apps, runs fine even though listed as "Requires Google Play."

2024-08-29 04:27:43

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I honestly don't know because I don't understand anything after "wallet integration." When you get to the point I don't have to understand, I think you will have fixed the problem.
I did try primal but there were issues resulting from my phone setup and it did not stick. I run into this a lot with various wallets and CashApp-type apps because I do not run the various Google services apps.

2024-08-29 02:52:25

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This is great, Vitor. Thanks. If I knew how to hook up a wallet and send a zap I would do so. But I haven't figured that out yet. Im not even sure what a zap is. So I will zap you in spirit🤣

2024-08-29 02:33:44

There are several services you can use to verify yourself. I'm sorry I do not know the names or URLs off the top of my head. Doing so is 100% optional and more of a vanity thing than any sort of requirement. Maybe someone else can point you to the list of NIP-05 providers.
#askNostr
If you #selfhost a website or blog, and have access to the file manager, you can put a very simple json file into a hidden directory (/.well-known) and verify yourself. You can also provide your own avatar this way, rather than using a service like gravatar. This is what I did.
I figured out how to do this by asking perplexity.ai about avatar and NIP-05 URIs.
#nevent1q…jwag

2024-08-29 02:21:33

It's definitely not intuitive when an app craps out trying to perform one of the most basic functions and there is no error message, hint, help or trace to provide some clue.
Having said that, this stuff is all Beta-level (or worse) and we're all just in it for the ride and learning as we go. Or that's at least how I look at it. Coming up with great app ideas is easy. Building robust apps is hard, and takes time. I suspect it will get better.
I am a little, not terribly but a little, disappointed that I haven't seen any kind of comment from #fountain. But that's the way it goes sometimes.
#nevent1q…9yhp

2024-08-28 19:46:51

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I've tried #fountain twice. I want to do something simple - import my podcast list from Antennapod via OPML. Maybe I need to create some kind of cloud account. Maybe I need to run OEM android instead of GrapheneOS. Maybe I need to run Google Surveillance Framework. Maybe the app expects me to do all three. I don't know. The import function just completely fails, the app craps out and, so far, I haven't found any explanation or solution

2024-08-28 19:34:40

What is the story on relays? How do I know good from mediocre? How many do I realistically need? Do I need to designate a specific relay to receive DM?
i presume I need to connect a wallet to pay for a paid relay - a concept I support - but how do I execute that? What does that process (the paying a relay part) look like? At present, are paid relays delivering any significant value vs free? How does one determine which paid relay(s) to support?
#askNostr

2024-08-27 14:11:40

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This is very helpful. Concise, understandable.

2024-08-27 13:55:15

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It may not be a bug by strict, technical definition, but it appears to be an annoyance quite specific to #amethyst + default #Android keyboard. I switched to #futokeyboard and the behavior stopped

2024-08-27 13:40:36

This was my 2nd attempt at #fountain. Neither time could I import OPML from #antennapod. What am I missing?
#askNostr
#nevent1q…j4gr

2024-08-27 02:59:02

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Good. Thx.

2024-08-27 02:22:54

Another #amethyst question(s): What is "Banner URL" in the profile? is it just any valid https link to any common image format? Or are there some requirements as with gravatars? If you set a valid Banner URL where, how and in what conditions is the banner displayed?
#askNostr

2024-08-27 02:11:19

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I think I will make this my about line...

2024-08-27 01:59:22

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OK. I've never seen it manifest in any other app, but I'll try swapping kybds. Thx.

2024-08-27 01:32:55

Is there a way to disable the weird keyboard behaviors in Amethyst? The backspace function - where words just "backup" to the prior word if you delete a couple of characters - is really annoying.
#askNostr

2024-08-27 01:24:14

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That is a book which changed my perspective on a lot of stuff.

2024-08-26 18:52:49

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Thanks for this.

2024-08-26 17:10:39

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Now, where is the plain-language guide to "nostr for Dummies"? Nostr seems like a DIY lifeboat kit for passengers on the social media Titanic, and I can't be alone in my struggle to figure it out. I don't think I'm a dummy, but I sure feel like one sometimes trying to get started.

2024-08-26 13:17:51

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This is one of the truest memes I've seen...

2024-08-22 00:02:29

I installed fountain, connected it to my nostr address. Attempted to import my podcast subscriptions via OPML. It seemed to work. Once. I went off to do something else and did not test it. When I reopened fountain my library was empty. Further attempts to import failed.
My device runs GrapheneOS. I see some refererence in the FAQs to certain functions not working on GrapheneOS.
#nevent1q…kjvd