Anyone GNU/Linux users out there keen to kick the tyres on the #Scuttlebutt / #SSB network, without having to wrestle with #npm? #TIL that #Patchwork, apparently the most noob-friendly SSB app, has been packaged as an #AppImage:
https://appimage.github.io/Patchwork/
#ShowerThoughts I wonder if Scuttlebutt could use a #blockchain to map its gibberish user IDs ("public keys") to human-readable usersnames, like #Jami does?
https://jami.net/why-is-jami-truly-distributed/
But why? Once you start getting into people's distribution zones their "my name is" messages start populate your node and you see their nicknames. You only see public key ids for people who are too far from you, but their id was references in responses etc.
@kravietz
> You only see public key ids for people who are too far from you, but their id was references in responses
You kind of answered your own question ;) Also, the Jami namechain allows users to claim a unique human-readable username, without a centralized ID server. AFAIK in SSB as it works now, you'd have to check the public key of a post to be sure it was sent by this "strypey", not another user calling themself "strypey".
Because all messages are digitally signed, there were discussions to possibly automate it - so if a SSB client sees a signed message "this is my new account" to somehow link them or auto-follow, but because the existing model works well nobody really cared.
@kravietz
> if a SSB client sees a signed message "this is my new account" to somehow link them or auto-follow
... doesn't do anything to allow users to claim a unique username across the network.
> because the existing model works well nobody really cared
This kind of thinking is how #IRC got overtaken by #Slack. IRC "works well" for the existing userbase, so the #UX doesn't get improved, so new users go somewhere else.