mike on Nostr: I want to talk about followers on NOSTR. It’s a big gripe with newbies used to ...

I want to talk about followers on NOSTR. It’s a big gripe with newbies used to legacy social media.

Here’s the reason you’ll never really know how many you have.

If I follow you, I update my profile on my relay(s) to store this information. If you don’t follow me and don’t check the same relays, you have no idea I’m following you, because I don’t notify you.

You will by proxy eventually find out as our paths cross and you start examining my profile on my relay.

That’s the technical answer, but the real answer is privacy. If I follow you, why should you know? We are so used to this information being exchanged that we don’t question it.

If I want to create a silent npub which does nothing, doesn’t ever post and sits on a private relay, you’ll never know I exist.

That’s privacy, which is a form of freedom.