I never said there shouldn’t be any free relays. My point is that some programmers spend countless hours and energy trying to find ways to stop spam while keeping their relay services free for everyone—a never-ending battle they are unlikely to win. Over the decades, I can’t think of a single free platform that has successfully eliminated spam. Attempts like captchas and question-and-answer systems help, but they never fully succeed.
While it’s true that free relays play a significant role in accelerating Nostr’s growth—and I’m thankful for their contributions—it doesn’t mean that Nostr couldn’t grow without them. Growth might be slower without free relays, but Nostr’s innovation and unique qualities would still drive its adoption. In the end, the challenge is finding a balance between accessibility and sustainability, and that’s not an easy task but as nostr and Bitcoin take over the world we need to help push this mentality of providing services for free.
Programmers should be rewarded and reward themselves for their hard work.
Paid relays don’t have a spam problem.
Note ID:
note1fcdy2j3nurpw38xlakq6ra7vfrvtnl7q7fqgcj5hp7d64cgqqzjs0x27ur
Post#175