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Problems with Nostr & how s3x_SOCIAL addresses them

Data not loading properly from relays

The biggest problem so far seems to be data not loading consistently from relays. Our company has quite a few accounts and in the process of trying out different clients we notice that the data won't load consistently when we move from one client to another. There are at least 2 reasons why this may be happening:

  1. Until we get our relay up and running we're just posting to free relays (and reading from paid relays that allow reads). "You get what you pay for" - so those free relays don't seem to be providing very reliable service.
  2. Different clients might be using different relays. So if one client posts to certain relays and the other client doesn't read from those same relays, then the data won't load.
  3. Reading from relays seems to be glitchy. Even if I use the same client - I've had cases where I post something on mobile and then can't read it on desktop - using the same client software.

Solution: We're currently having a new server built that will support the leading relay software (our current server has an incompatibility). That should resolve item #1, and if you make sure all your clients are using our relay, then it will solve #2. Hopefully it will at least help with #3 as well if we can keep our from being overloaded.

Switching clients leads to data loss

Related to data not loading properly is the problem that some clients, after they have an incomplete load of certain data (like who you follow), then update that data and, since they're missing data, they essentially lose the data they didn't load properly. This seems to be a particular problem with the list of who people follow.

Solution: We recommend trying a few clients and then sticking to one you like best. The Nostr development community will eventually get a handle on the problem. In the meantime, don't tempt fate (too much).

No native images/videos

Another huge gotcha is that Nostr doesn't natively transmit anything but the message. That means no images or videos. Many relays won't accept events that are more than 4K in size. That means you can write really long notes, but you can't include even a small image. What you can do is include the URL for an image. Then the Nostr client will hotlink that image and make it visible to people viewing your note.

Videos have much the same issue. You'll enter the URL to the video and the client will have to put the appropriate embed code on the page. Otherwise you'll need to click the link to view the video (which is cumbersome). Since video embed codes vary quite a bit only the major video sites (YouTube, Vimeo, etc.) may be supported by your Nostr client.

The major Nostr clients have solved this problem - to a point. You'll see some type of upload or attachment icon in their interface, but they're sending your image or video off to a third party who probably doesn't allow anything that's sexually explicit. That's clearly a problem for s3x_SOCIAL users.

What we're doing about it: We're in contact with the most widely used upload service for Nostr. Honestly, the guy running it didn't think through all the issues before starting his service. In the near future we'll check back in with him and see where he stands on adult content. If he still doesn't allow it, we'll come up with a solution at that point.

Short-term Solution:: In the meantime just realize it's not a good idea to upload x-rated content using the upload button on Nostr clients - your content may be deleted. However, you can grab image URLs from various sites and include those in your notes. But some sites will age-limit their image URLs so that's not always a great long-term solution.

Long-term Solution: We'll make sure there's an upload solution for adult content - even if we have to host it ourselves.