Ask exploding heads

I still don’t understand where my data will be stored if I use Nostr.

Some of your data is stored in each message. Like what your preferred relays are, a username url to give your public key a easy to remember name. user icon url.

Some of it is stored on the relays you publish to. That data can be stored on your local client too. It has built in mechanisms for other users to find where your data is stored. Like what relays you use.

Does every user have to run a Nostr server/relay?

No, users share relay's just like users share fediverse servers.

Who hosts the relay?

Similar people to the fediverse.

Doesn’t the relay host have the power to censor?

Yes and no. We need to compare it to the current model to understand why, how it works, and why it's better.

When you post to exploding heads, your post only goes to exploding heads. Then exploding heads pushes it to other servers who requested it. That way your post exist on multiple servers after exploding heads pushes it and after those servers accept it.

Nostr works a little differently. Instead of pushing to one server you push to multiple servers at the same time.

Why is this better?

Here The server admin can delete your account and all your post will be dissociated from you forever. All your followers, all your communities gone, forever. You have to start over.

Here 1 server with 100,000 users can block all 100,000 users from seeing your post on this instance by defederating. That is not possible in nostr. all 100,000 users are serperate entities.

In nostr, 1 server can block you, but you don't push to just one server. You push to multiple servers. If you look at the default server list on iris.to it's pretty long.

wss://eden.nostr.land
wss://relay.damus.io
wss://nostr-pub.wellorder.net
wss://nos.lol
wss://relay.snort.social
wss://nostr.oxtr.dev
wss://relay.nostrati.com
wss://nostr.inosta.cc
wss://nostr.wine
wss://relay.nostr.com.au
wss://nostr.mom
wss://nostr.bitcoiner.social
wss://relay.nostr.bg
wss://relay.orangepill.dev
wss://atlas.nostr.land
wss://puravida.nostr.land
wss://nostr.milou.lol
wss://no.str.cr
wss://was://relay.snort.social

Below that they have a much longer list of popular relays you can add. So you can push all your post to all of those at the same time. Your followers, friends ect only need to find one that has your post to read it.

Lets say something extreme and unlikely happens and all of them block you. You can very easily host your own and everyone who wants to hear your voice can pull from it without changing accounts, without changing instances, without finding your new username they can use the same public key. 1 relay admin has zero power to stop them. The act of them pulling your data is not done on their relay but distributed through lots of relays. As long as 1 relay exist who accepts you your data will persist and people anywhere can get it with their original username!

Yes relays will need moderation powers to keep spam bots at bay but we won't see the massive fragmentation in nostr we see in the fediverse.