Blogging Nostr!

Habla is a new nostr native blogging platform. It is the second one I have found. I'm, writing this as a test, but so fair I have noticed my markdown syntax is not being rendered yet. On the other hand, I also seem to be able to see my blogstack post on Habla as well. This is why it's a test. I'm still trying to wrap my head around how this all works.

I've been writing a blog about how I use bitcoin since April on a platform namedtw Ghost under a pseudonym. I wrote on that platform for the following reasons:

• I want to be a writer

• I spend most of my waking hours thinking about bitcoin.

• Marty Bent uses Ghost and had this paywall I thought was really cool at the time.

Marty's paywall is actually kind a neat, Instead of asking his readers to pay an annual subscription fee like the New York Times, You could just pay 50 cents per article. This is much better than the New York Times Paywall. When I first heard of it, I thought writers could only get paid on the Internet with a paywall or ads. The mechanics of the system did not leave many options. Lightning addresses worked, but most people never heard of them and even most Bitcoiners didn't use them. Yalls had a paywall, but the UX wasn't great. I first thought of starting a blog because of yalls. I thought I could do magic tricks over video for tips, like buskers in Vegas, but on the Internet. Then I thought, I'm not that good at magic and I don't feel comfortable throwing my face out there like a whore on the Internet (No disrespect to sex workers, but I doubt anyone would pay for my sex services and my wife would not approve.) I also have a degree in creative writing, but I'm a bit rusty. The lightning network got me interested in writing again.

It's what prompted me to run my own lightning node in the first place. I think this was back in 2018 or 2019. At the time, I tried running Pierre Rochard's lightning node, but didn't have the technical chops to pull it off on my old Windows laptop. It might have worked if I knew that I needed to plug the damn thing into an Ethernet cable to download the bitcoin blockchain.(We didn't use the term time chain in those days).

His paywall was an order of magnitude better than running my own node to accept tips on yalls.org, so I started my blog on ghost with the intention of using his paywall software.

I spun up a virtual private server on Bitlaunch.

I installed Yunohost because it was easy to set up Ghost.

Now Marty finally launched his service. If you like this model, you can use it for charges 10 bucks a month.

For the record, I really like Marty. I listen to Rabbit Hole Recap every week. I'm not trying to ruffle any feathers, or shit on his side project, but @dergigi convinced that the paywall model will soon go the way of the doorstep delivered newspaper. If you don't have time to read or listen to that entire article, please listen to this 30 second clip of the Bitcoin.Review podcast created by Oscar Merry.

Blogs Can Be Nostr Native

There's no reason to spin up a server on a VPS to start a blog anymore. No reason to host it on a Raspberry Pi. You don't need to buy a shared hosting account. You don't need to install ruby, gem or jekyll to host it on Github. You don't even need to buy a domain, although you might want to buy one for a DIY Nip 05 verification. Hopefully, in the not too distant future, you won't even need Github. Habla.news is a Medium alternative, but there's no reason why we couldn't have a Github alternative. We're just waiting on someone to build it.

The reason I find this value 4 value model built on Nostr so exciting now is because it is now trivial for those who produce value to receive value and trivial for those who cherish valuable content to send value to those who produce it.

Why spend the time setting up ghost or pay a fee to accept lightning payments or a ghost account? --*Especially if you are writing a blog about bitcoin.

I like the idea of charging for services, but paywalls just don't jive with the old walled garden model anymore.

Nostr is censorship resistant. Anyone can create a Nostr key.

Some freaks say it's not normie ready, but it is much easier to create a private key than create a blog using the aforementioned options. I look forward to the day when we see more no-coiners witnessing how trivial it is to send value over the Internet. @TheGuySwann wrote a great post about how Facebook spent years developing their shitcoin, only to get shut down by congress.

Paywalls Not Required

You couldn't accept native bitcoin on any other platforms until now. Now plebs are zapping each other left and right.

In the value 4 value model, the zapper sets the value on the article. The paywall sets a price on reading the full article.

• We don't need paywalls anymore.

• I don't need to send you spam .

• If you want to read my blog, just follow me on Nostr.

• We don't need to rely on digital overlords to create content.

• We **don't need ads **to monetize content.

Ads suck.

This is pure vida.

Nostr is the first amendment translated into code like Satoshi translated this math:

Into this code:

We can write without undue influence from ads, corporations, or even governments.

We can create a better Internet.

Code is speech.
Cypherpunks write code.

Nostr makes speech unstoppable.

That's a big fucking deal.

Blogging Bitcoin