NOSTR is a protocol just as POP3, IMAP and SMTP are protocols for e-mail.
Everyone can have their own e-mail but everyone can write to anyone else who has an e-mail application.
Same with NOSTR, you can use it for various services:
social networking
video streaming
chat
community
etc. etc...
With the key difference being that you don't need to make an account for each service and you won't have to build up a following of contacts, but you will find everything in each NOSTR-based service.
Nostr also has many other advantages, but you are a 5-year old child and it is already a lot if you have managed to understand everything I have written above :)
It's like a party with gossip girls. They're in the crowd, and when they hear something, they immediately tell someone else. Other gossip girls hear it and tell more other people.
That's how the Nostr posts (notes) are distributed around relays (gossip girls) to everyone connected to that relays.
A computer database spread in different places that contains lot of types of information. It will help better categorize and unify information globally, freely and anonymously... plus you have the bonus of also send/receive payments. Select your preferred client depending on the type of data/information you'd like to browse. Short notes from people around the globe in multiple languages, read long format articles, buy and sell items... and much more!
Imagine you have a magic toy box. When you put a drawing or a note inside and close the lid, your friends with the same kind of toy box can open their lids and find your drawing inside! It's like sharing without having to hand it to them directly.
Nostr is like this magic toy box, but for the internet. People can write messages, draw pictures, or share stories, and put them in their digital "box". Friends who know the magic trick can open their own "box" and see what was shared.
The coolest part? There's no big toy store that controls these magic boxes. Everyone can have one, and they can decide how they want their box to look and work. It's like everyone having their own special toy that can be customized just for them.
And just like some toys have secret buttons or codes, in Nostr, people have special keys. These keys make sure that when someone shares something, it's really from them and not a sneaky imposter.
These boards are all over the place. Some are at school some are outside of people's houses some you have to pay in order to post something on it (to thumb tack a card on it). You and your friends used to always only post to one of these boards. This allowed you to share messages with each other in a way that they could check at any time and you didn't have to see each other in person to share information with each other.
Then, one day, the owner of that board said your friend isn't allowed to post on the board anymore because they posted dick drawings on it. You think pictures of dick drawings are funny and would have loved to see your friends humor but now you can't use that board to share with each other anymore.
So with nostr, you post the same message on many boards spread all over the place and maybe some of them don't allow dick drawings, but some of them do. So in your mailbox you get all the cards posted to all the boards all in one place and the cards are signed by the poster so you know it came from them.
Then when you want to post, you post your card to all the boards that you like to use and when your friend wants to see them, they get all the cards from all the boards in one place just like you.
You know how your daddy and mommy dont want you to say some things, and get angry when you speak your own mind? There's this special place where you can say whatever you want and no one will stop you from speaking your mind.
That's important because people need to be able to share ideas.
Nostr is a protocol (not an application) like email or http (it's a set of rules that makes browsing www possible) to move data over the internet in a decentralised way.
Nostr is fundamentally different in the way it works
The main problems that Nostr directly addresses in internet applications are identity portability and data portability.
For the last decade or so, countless alt-coin's (read shitcoin's) have attempted to address data portability on the internet, NOSTR is the first one to successfully achieve it.
In 2009, Bitcoin went about claiming the decentralised value transfer protocol. Similarly, NOSTR is setting itself as decentralised data exchange protocol.
and you will shocked to learn that Nostr works because it's too simple. The way the data moves in a simple dumb fashion between the client — relay (think of it like your twitter app & their inhouse servers, although there are no servers in NOSTR)
For the last decade, every altcoin (shitcoin) failed to accomplish this task because while creating their token & the shitcoin, they also introduced a lot of complexities; for example if you want to develop on Ethereum Blockchain, you will have to know/learn the language Solidity; which was created exclusively to build stuff (garbage) on top of Ethereum Blockchain using Smart-Contracts
Nostr is exactly opposite, it's simple transfer of data from clients to multiple (a lot of) relays.
Nostr & Bitcoin together will be the freedom layer of the cyberspace.
I hope this explanation helps, @n057r173! Let me know if you have any other questions 🤠
Public key - known by anyone and everyone over internet, this is YOU, your real identity, your name
Private key - used to decrypt all data which is not public in nature, your DMs, your post signatures. It should be protected AT ALL TIMES. It is used to verify if it is YOU.
What is NOSTR
Not an app or website, but it is much like a set of rules aka PROTOCOL. Think of like it is an email service. What is EMAIL, not an app, but a protocol like IMAP, POP etc. sent over servers. By the way, emails are termed as NOTES here, hence the name: Notes and Other Stuff Transmitted by Relay (NOSTR). See more over here: https://nostr.com/
What are servers here ?
Relays, this can be bit technical now. If you are 5, it should suffice you to start with buddy.
Extra:
NOSTR protocol has now many apps built within its ecosystem, like Twitter like apps (microblogging) e.g. - Snort, Damus etc. It is like your identity (like email, phone number). So many websites take it as a sufficient and secure way to login and interact. Some apps to look at are: StackerNews, NostrChat etc. Whole new world out here: https://www.nostrapps.com/
Nostr represents the future of how we will communicate and distribute the written word: decentralised, free, independent, incorruptible. fiatjaf created it in 2020 and it’s been growing since, offering a new hope for content creators tied up by Big Tech and their walled gardens
On Nostr you own your social experience. Keep followers, posts, likes, and replies across platforms. Some people won’t care, but for creators - this is key! People use Nostr clients to see and post stuff - WTF’s a Nostr client ? 🤔
Clients are websites/apps that connect to the Nostr network. Think of them like different doors to the same room – your content and followers stay the same, whichever door you choose.🚪🚪 I’m not going to link a client here because Elon owns this door and could close it on me.
He also owns the room. On Nostr, nobody owns the room, you can just build or use doors to enter it.
Its a communication game where you can use your character or a made up one. You can play on different devices like a mobile phone or laptop.
Sometimes if someone else likes your comment, picture or video they might "zap" you. Or if you like someone's comment you can zap them too. A zap is a small lightning payment of satoshis. Some people have made millions of sats from posting content.
It's like a big magical mailbox funpark with no monitors where you and your friends can send messages and drawings to each other.
It's special because you have secret keys to your letters and even if one mailbox doesn't want you to use it, you can always go to another one. No one can take away your drawings, ever!
Since it has no monitors, it can be kind of messy right now, but you and your friends are smart and things will get much more fun in due time..
What is key-pair ?
What is NOSTR
What are servers here ?
Extra: