What’s the current #nostr state of discourse around deleting notes?
I see that it’s possible to request deletion and I understand that that doesn’t guarantee it’ll disappear everywhere on Nostr, just that it’ll be deleted from the relays that accept deletion requests. That’s the internet - never know when someone’s archiving or screenshotting what you post, even if an app or service offers a delete feature.
The ability to communicate without censorship is important, but it seems like that’s not most people‘s primary need. Speaking for myself, my main interest is having a few ideas that I develop over time - longer-form essays (or drafts, really) that I can edit and update without being chained to the original, clumsy thought. I sure don’t need the entirety of the drivel I post being etched in perpetuity. Not every art or philosophy benefits from being worked out in permanent public.
If anything, that does more harm than good, since as a species we have millions of years of experience with the luxury of most of what we say being forgotten. Our views change radically over the course of our lives, and what we said a long time ago is seldom a reliable indicator of what or how we think now. Do we always have to answer for it? Even crimes have the statute of limitations, but not our most inane online utterances.
Maybe I want something more like a Snapchat or disappearing message app or text-based Stories/Reels for most of what I post, and then a few posts that I choose to leave up upon which I hope to collect feedback.
Or is Nostr just not the place for that? Perhaps, like Bitcoin, it does one thing well and one thing only - permissionless communication?
robertfett0 / Rob
npub18r…59a0m
2025-05-30 21:02:29
Author Public Key
npub18r3t28zn5zeqk54vunzz5u5gk5pwjqghwv8qp746kd0uey4n8yhsy59a0mPublished at
2025-05-30 21:02:29Event JSON
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"content": "What’s the current #nostr state of discourse around deleting notes? \n\nI see that it’s possible to request deletion and I understand that that doesn’t guarantee it’ll disappear everywhere on Nostr, just that it’ll be deleted from the relays that accept deletion requests. That’s the internet - never know when someone’s archiving or screenshotting what you post, even if an app or service offers a delete feature.\n\nThe ability to communicate without censorship is important, but it seems like that’s not most people‘s primary need. Speaking for myself, my main interest is having a few ideas that I develop over time - longer-form essays (or drafts, really) that I can edit and update without being chained to the original, clumsy thought. I sure don’t need the entirety of the drivel I post being etched in perpetuity. Not every art or philosophy benefits from being worked out in permanent public.\n\nIf anything, that does more harm than good, since as a species we have millions of years of experience with the luxury of most of what we say being forgotten. Our views change radically over the course of our lives, and what we said a long time ago is seldom a reliable indicator of what or how we think now. Do we always have to answer for it? Even crimes have the statute of limitations, but not our most inane online utterances.\n\nMaybe I want something more like a Snapchat or disappearing message app or text-based Stories/Reels for most of what I post, and then a few posts that I choose to leave up upon which I hope to collect feedback.\n\nOr is Nostr just not the place for that? Perhaps, like Bitcoin, it does one thing well and one thing only - permissionless communication?",
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