Nobody Joins a Protocol

Last night, I spent time with people who traveled from different parts of the world to be here in central Pennsylvania. Builders, Bitcoiners, technologists, and friends. Some familiar faces. Some people I’d only known through a profile and conversations online.

After those conversations, I’m pretty confident this is going to be our best Nostr Valley yet.

Today is year three. We’re gathering at Happy Valley Brewing in State College to share what we’ve been working on, exchange ideas, and continue building relationships that carry on long after the event ends.

When we started this, we didn’t have everything figured out. We had an idea, a place to gather, and people willing to show up. Each year, we’ve learned a little more and built on it.

There’s something satisfying about seeing that become a tradition.

It also gets to the heart of my talk today and this week’s episode of Connection: Nobody Joins a Protocol.

People need a reason to care. Something useful. Something interesting. Other people they want to spend time with.

For me, that’s been food, and building on Nostr.

Food gives us common ground. We gather around it for holidays, weddings, funerals, and ordinary dinners after a long day. Everyone has a favorite dish, a family recipe, or something they remember someone making.

That’s where Zap Cooking started, and it’s where I keep coming back.

I can spend plenty of time talking about Nostr, Bitcoin, wallets, relays, and all the technical pieces that make this possible. I enjoy that stuff. Put enough of us in a room and we’ll happily spend hours on it.

But when I’m talking to someone who just wants to figure out dinner, I need to meet them there.

Can they find a recipe? Save it? Share what they made? Connect with the person who posted it?

Over the past year, we’ve put a lot of work into making those things easier.

Last year at Nostr Valley, I talked about building niche communities. This year, I’m talking about the work of making one easier to join.

Some of that work came through building alongside Daniel. Some came through our experience with PlebLab and conversations with people who brought fresh eyes to the project. They helped us look more closely at our message, our assumptions, and the experience we were asking people to navigate.

We simplified how we explain Zap Cooking: We simplify your cooking experience.

That gives us something concrete to deliver.

We’ve worked on easier sign-in, an integrated wallet, mobile apps, and useful kitchen tools. More recently, we’ve been bringing together the food conversations already happening across Nostr.

There are years of people sharing meals, gardens, recipes, and family traditions. Our new food relay brings that history together, with around 40,000 food-related posts and topics people can explore.

Yes, we have a pickle feed.

We also have cakes, cheese, soups, and plenty more. Behind those posts are people who took the time to make something and share it. Helping others discover that work has become a meaningful part of what we do.

Our code is open source. Other people can build on it, and I hope they do. The relationships, trust, and care that make a community worth returning to take continued attention.

Today is part of that work.

You can talk with someone online for a year, follow their progress, and exchange messages. Then you sit across a table together, shake hands, share a meal, and the relationship gains another dimension.

That’s why I keep helping organize Nostr Valley. I want more of those connections, and I want people to leave with someone they can call, collaborate with, or ask for help.

This week’s Connection episode was recorded ahead of today’s event. It’s a preview and practice run of my talk, along with some reflection on what we’ve learned building Zap Cooking over the past year.

It releases tonight at 7 p.m. By then, I’ll have given the presentation and probably found a few things I wish I’d said differently. That’s part of showing up, too.

If you’re nearby, join us today at Happy Valley Brewing in State College, starting at noon.

And wherever you are, think about the people you’re building for. What would help them? What would make them feel welcome? What would give them a reason to come back?

Those are the questions I’m bringing into year three.

See you at the table.