How to Optimize Your Profile to Occupy a Name

Understanding Name Occupation

NymRank uses a reputation-based system to determine who "occupies" a name. To be considered an occupant, you need:

• Minimum affinity score of 2 (see scoring below)
• Sufficient Web of Trust reputation - Your reputation score must meet a minimum threshold based on verified followers and trusted connections
• Higher reputation scores can help you overtake lower-reputation users with the same name

Before claiming a name: Always search for it first. If someone with significantly higher reputation already occupies it, consider choosing a more unique variation instead of competing for the same name.

Name Affinity Scoring

Your affinity score determines how strongly you're associated with a name. Higher affinity = better occupation claim.

Minimum to occupy: You need at least 2 points total. For example:

• Exact name match = 2 points ✓ (occupies)
• name starts with + nip05 match = 1 + 1 = 2 points ✓ (occupies)
• nip05 + lud16 both match = 1 + 1 = 2 points ✓ (occupies)
• Only nip05 match = 1 point ✗ (doesn't occupy)

Name vs Display Name:

How NIP-24 Defines Display Names

According to NIP-24, display_name is a richer, more expressive name field separate from name. The name field should be used for slugs/usernames, while display_name is for display purposes (with spaces, emojis, etc.).

Note for Amethyst users:

Amethyst's Nostr client profile editor for Android uses the name field but positions it like a display_name which can encourage users to incorrectly add spaces, emojis, and special characters. This is sub-optimal for name affinity:

• Users set name to "Vitor Pamplona 🚀" instead of just "vitor"
• This results in partial matches (+1 point) instead of exact matches (+2 points)
• Users need to combine with nip05 or lud16 to reach the 2-point threshold

How NymRank Handles This

To mitigate this UX ambiguity, NymRank gives partial credit for names that start with your slug followed by a space:

• If your name is "jack smith" and someone searches "jack", you get +1 point (partial match)
• If your name is "jackson" and someone searches "jack", you get 0 points (no match - requires space after "jack")
• If your name is "jack" and someone searches "ja", you get 0 points (no match - "jack" doesn't occupy "ja")
• This is half the points of an exact match (+2), but combined with nip05 or lud16 matches, you can still occupy the name
• However, users with exact matches will rank higher if they have similar reputation

{
  "name": "jack",                    ← Use this for slug occupation (+2 points)
  "display_name": "Jack 🚀 Smith",  ← Use this for display (NIP-24 standard)
  "nip05": "jack@example.com",
  "lud16": "jack@example.com"
}

{
  "name": "Jack Smith 🚀",          ← Only gets +1 point (partial match)
  "nip05": "jack@example.com",     ← +1 point
  "lud16": "jack@example.com"      ← +1 point
  // Total: 3 points (works, but not optimal)
}

NIP-05 and LUD-16 Prefixes

NIP-05 Identifiers

NIP-05 is a verification system that links your Nostr pubkey to an email-like identifier. The format is: username@domain.com

For name occupation, NymRank checks if the username part (before the @) matches the slug:

• nip05: "jack@example.com" → matches slug "jack" (+1 point)
• nip05: "jacksmith@example.com" → does NOT match slug "jack" (no points)

LUD-16 Lightning Addresses

LUD-16 is your Lightning payment address. Similar to NIP-05, NymRank checks the username prefix:

• lud16: "jack@example.com" → matches slug "jack" (+1 point)
• If both nip05 and lud16 match the same slug, you get 2 points total (1 + 1)

How Reputation Helps You Win

Even if multiple users claim the same name, reputation determines who ranks highest:

Web of Trust (WoT)

NymRank uses influence scores calculated through the Web of Trust. Our base reputation inputs come from the GrapeRank project, which computes trust scores from follow/mute/report relationships and publishes them as NIP-85 Trusted Assertions. NymRank ingests these assertions and layers on name affinity and logarithmic weighting for search and occupation decisions.

• Users with more WoT verified followers have higher reputation weight
• Connections to non-bot accounts boost your score
• Future enhancements may consider account activity and staleness in reputation calculations

Why "Billionaire Jack" Beats "Temu Jack"

Even if both users have the same name affinity:

• Billionaire Jack: 10,000 verified followers, high WoT score, active → High reputation → Ranks #1
• Temu Jack: 50 verified followers, low WoT score → Lower reputation → Ranks lower

The user with higher reputation effectively "occupies" the name because they appear first in search results.

Why This Matters: Use Cases

Name occupation enables powerful features for Nostr applications:

User Tagging & Mentions

Apps can resolve slugs to pubkeys for mentions and tags. Instead of typing long hex pubkeys, users can simply type @jack and a NymRank enabled Nostr client will resolve it to the correct npub.

Human-Readable URLs

NymRank enabled application and services can provide clean URLs that map to user profiles:

• https://app.example.com/jack → Resolves to the npub of the user occupying "jack"
• https://video.example.com/channel/jack → Direct link to a user's video channel
• https://shop.example.com/store/jack → Link to a user's e-commerce page

Name-Based Discovery

Users can search for people by memorable names instead of cryptographic keys, making Nostr more accessible and user-friendly.

Choosing Your Name Wisely

Before claiming a name, check if it's already occupied by someone with higher reputation:

1. Search for your desired name on NymRank
2. Check the reputation scores of existing occupants
3. If occupied by high-reputation users, consider a more unique variation:
   • Add your domain or specialty: "jackdev", "jackmusic", "jacknyc"
   • Use a compound name: "jacksmith", "jackjones"
   • Include numbers or underscores if appropriate: "jack_2024", "jack2"
4. If the name is available or occupied by lower-reputation users, you can claim it by building your reputation

Optimization Checklist

1. Set your name field to a simple slug (no spaces, no emojis) for maximum points
2. Only use display_name (NIP-24) for your rich display name with spaces/emojis
3. Get a NIP-05 identifier with your username (e.g., "jack@yourdomain.com")
4. Set a Lightning address (LUD-16) to match your NIP-05 username for bonus points
5. Build verified followers to increase your Web of Trust reputation score
6. Ensure your reputation meets the minimum threshold - Search for your desired name to see if you meet the reputation requirements (note: updates are periodically batched and not real-time)
7. Check if your desired name is occupied - if someone more popular already has it, consider a more unique variation

Technical Details

NymRank reads your kind 0 Nostr profile event. To update your profile:

• Use a client that allows editing the name field directly (not just display_name)
• Or publish a kind 0 event manually with your desired fields
• Your profile is re-checked periodically for updates

Profile refresh frequency: Future enhancements may consider activity staleness in reputation calculations.