Relay: Stores signed messages, delivers to those who ask for them.

A Nostr relay is like a post office for your thoughts. It takes your messages and delivers them to everyone who wants to hear them. But unlike a post office, Nostr relays are decentralized, meaning that they're not controlled by any one person or group. This makes them more resistant to censorship and interference.

Nostr relays are also open source, meaning that anyone can see how they work and contribute to their development. This makes them more transparent and trustworthy than traditional communication platforms.

Here's a simple analogy to help you understand how Nostr relays work:

Imagine a town where everyone has a mailbox. When you want to send a message to someone, you simply write it down on a piece of paper and put it in their mailbox. The next time they check their mail, they'll receive your message.

Nostr relays work in a similar way. When you send a message, it's broadcast to all of the Nostr relays in the network. The relays then store your message and deliver it to anyone who has subscribed to you.

This means that your message can be seen by anyone in the world, regardless of where they are or what device they're using. It also means that your message is resistant to censorship, because no one person or group can control all of the Nostr relays.

Nostr relays are still under development, but they have the potential to revolutionize the way we communicate. They offer a more secure, private, and resistant to censorship way to share our thoughts and ideas with the world.

Mr. Poopy Pants Elon has a computer called a server on the Internet that lets you and your friends send notes to each other, but that meanie Mr. Elon reads every note and decides if your friends can see it an if you can see notes your friends send to you. He also has a website where you read the notes and he can block you from using it forever if he wants to.

With nostr there are hundreds of different servers (called relays) you can send your notes to. You and your friends can even make your own. And there are lots of different websites you can use to read the notes, all made by different people. You can can make one those too if you want to. So if someone starts acting dumb like Mr. Elon you can just switch to a different relay or website and all your notes will still be there, and nobody can stop you from sending or reading what you want.

NOSTR stands for Notes and Other Stuff Transmitted by Relays. The protocol can be as small as 1 client & 1 relay

Notes (text) and Other Stuff (image,video) can be published by users using client. The most popular on mobile are Amethyst & Plebstr (Android) & Damus (iOS)

Relays is where the user's published data being stored. Anyone can run their own version of relay but it's not a obligation to do so.

Relays works similarly like a gossip between a bunch of crowd in a mask party. If i saw Batman attending my party i would store that data in my memory & maybe "gossip" that data by whispering it to my friends.

The friend has no obligation to accept or believe my data, they just operate based on their own interest. And if relay keep forwarding data from one to another, eventually relay that i trusted will show data that other people's published previously.

No one really knows each other in a mask party, unless you selectively reveal yourself to someone else. PublicKey on NOSTR is a long string of numbers & letters but again, you can simply identify/claim a specific pubkey. "Hey i'm gonna come to the party using a red & black mask = Hey this is my pubkey on NOSTR pls follow 🥺👉🏽👈🏽"

In order to access the party i'm gonna need a ticket pass, this ticket pass cost me 0$. But if i lose the ticket i can simply buy another one but i need to reintroduce myself to others at that party. "I should keep this ticket pass securely"

Pubkey, privkey, client & relays are the most important basics of NOSTR. Remind me of something else if i forget any detail

It's effectively a headless website where you can store and fetch json.

It's not broadcast, you subscribe to what you want.

It's not p2p in the traditional sense because its a website, IP4 and SSL, so shit works in web browsers and hobbled networks.

Since it's just websockets and json you can do pretty much anything, do it well enough and others might do it the same way and create a network effect.

Sure! Imagine you have two friends, Alice and Bob, and they want to send secret messages to each other. But, they don't want anyone to know what they're saying. Nostr Relays are like special messengers who help keep their messages secret.

Here's how it works:

So, Nostr Relays help Alice and Bob talk secretly by turning their messages into puzzles that only they can solve, keeping their messages safe from prying eyes.

Who won?

Imagine a giant spiderweb in a forest. This spiderweb is like the Nostr communication system. Each strand of the web is a path for messages, and the dewdrops on the web are the messages themselves.

Now, in this spiderweb, there are special dewdrop collection points where dewdrops gather. These collection points are the "Nostr relays."

Here's how it works:

Sending a Dewdrop: When you want to send a message (or a dewdrop), you place it on the spiderweb. It travels along the strands and reaches relays (dewdrop collection points).

Multiplication: Because Nostr is digital, the dewdrops have a magic quality of infinitely replicating themselves and travel in multiple directions simultaneously. So they do just that to reach multiple dewdrop collection points.

Relay's Job: The relay's job is to make sure your dewdrop reaches all parts of the web. It doesn't care about the size or shape of the dewdrop; it just spreads it out to every strand.

No Favorites: The relay treats all dewdrops equally. It doesn't favor big dewdrops over small ones or clear ones over colored ones.

What if a Relay Dries Up?: Sometimes, a dewdrop collection point might dry up or get damaged. But don't worry! There are many collection points on the web, so if one dries up, the others can still spread your dewdrops. And because anyone can create a new collection point, there's always a backup plan.

Free and Paid Relays: Some dewdrop collection points are free to use, while others might ask for a small fee. The ones that ask for a fee might spread dewdrops faster or to special parts of the web.

So, in simple terms, Nostr relays are like special dewdrop collection points on a big spiderweb that help spread your messages (dewdrops) to every corner of the web!

For the readers older that 5 I suggest checking out my quick guide on Nostr relays here: https://habla.news/tony/relays