Hacker News Reader

Comment by pgl | Hacker News Reader

Would love a quick explanation of what this is, especially after clicking through to "Learn More"[0]. I don't want to watch a video, I don't want to read an essay, even the FAQ[1] (which wasn't exactly prominently linked to) doesn't seem to have a "What is LBRY?" anywhere.

After a few minutes on this site, I still have no idea what this is. "Watch, read and play in a decentralized digital library controlled by the community." sounds intriguing, but... what does that mean? What exactly is a decentralised digital library? How can I watch, read, and play in it? How does the community control it?

[0] https://lbry.io/learn

[1] https://lbry.io/faq

View on HN

Long and short of it:

Its an IPFS clone by a private entity, with a blockchain for a DNS like namespace. And its monetized, and seemingly badly.

Large chunks of the core code just aren't completes. No GUI. Low amount of users although spamming to tech sites is trying to change that.

Tl;Dr. Stay away. Stick with IPFS. Its on its way of being an IETF standard in my opinion.

Edit: I guess the 2 people from lbry.io found this comment. 2 immediate downvotes without comment. Would much prefer a dialogue if the above is factually incorrect... There seems to be a lot of people floundering in here trying to make heads or tails of this stuff.

No downvotes from me, but there is a GUI: https://github.com/lbryio/lbry-app

Ah, that must be something new. Because when I read all the available documentation, I only found command-line manual JSON queries available.

I stand corrected on the GUI side of things.

> I don't want to watch a video

And that's doubly-so when the video is confusingly-produced.

It's fairly slow, and isn't very information-dense, and, though it sounds like it's scripted, its grammar doesn't actually make any sense. I transcribed a pierce below:

----

"The bottom line is that LBRY, like HTTP or Bitcoin, it's a platform or protocol that, once unleashed into the world, no one will fully own or control how artists, authors, video and virtual reality producers how they'll use LBRY to discover and transmit, buy and sell content, that'll be up to them and the demanders of content, so watching this spontaneous world evolve, it's going to be very interesting, and I'm delighted to be a part of it."

New video coming soon with public launch! That was made when net money spent on LBRY was < $10,000.

AFAICT it's a place where content is hosted by its creators and micropayments are used to subsidize the content creation (instead of advertising). There are many comparisons to youtube on this site, although content is not limited to video.

> How can I watch, read, and play in it?

I haven't figured this bit out yet. I suppose something like a web browser plugin should be on their roadmap if it's not already available. I'd imagine the plugin would yield the LRBY credits to creators in order to browse the content.

The FAQ describes how LBRY is distinct from Storj and IPFS et al, but not mentioned is steemit -- it has a similar concept IIRC.

It also says that non content creators can be given credit for hosting and seeding content.

This is a brilliant project if it works, an attempt to consolidate content from private trackers and ad based pay systems into something that resembles a traditional bazaar for paid digital content.

The only problem I have with it is the name as it's not really a library.

I had a similar reaction. Playing a video is not practical or convenient for me right now. I was hopeful when I saw they had a FAQ link, but it unfortunately lacks what I believe should be the first entry of any "X FAQ," namely "What is X?"

I took me a while to realise this was a blockchain development.

It is tough to strike a balance between a good introduction for technical people and non-technical people.

https://lbry.io/quickstart is good practical introduction.

https://lbry.io/what is a more theoretical introduction.

We've got a WIP new homepage (more of a wireframe) at https://lbry.io/home2 if you want to share any feedback!

Yeah, still no ideas what it is you do. I'm learning more from HN comments then the site.

A plain english explanation (one to two paragraphs?) would be a huge help.

I like this new page better. It gets straight to the point. I imagine readers coming in from HN would require a more technical intro, along the lines of this[https://matrix.org/].

Try and explain why we should be excited about this from a technical perspective... because it seems like technical people will be your first set of users.

EDIT: The TLDR from the essay at https://lbry.io/what looks pretty nice. Why don't you use that?

Fair enough, I recognise that it's hard.

This article does a good job of introducing LBRY, btw: https://bryanalexander.org/2017/03/19/what-is-lbry-and-what-... (h/t @doctornemo).

I also saw it described as "A cross between Bitcoin and Napster", which was fairly illuminating. I'm sure you wouldn't consider it accurate, but as a starting point perhaps something like this would be useful to have?

At the very least, #1 on the FAQ should really be the answer to "What is LBRY?"

I re-ordered the FAQ, this was a great suggestion. Thank you!

from what I can gather, it is a store, not a library and it is based on blockchain with yet another cryptocurrency.

They pitch it as upside for the creators but except for maybe a good feeling no reason why a consumer would want to use it.

The essay you don't want to read answers exactly those questions and isn't even that long of a read.

Sorry, my point was really that "Watch, read and play in a decentralized digital library controlled by the community" doesn't help newcomers understand anything, because there are too many unanswered questions.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com