nips/69.md

Poll event

A poll note is a nostr event type (kind 6969) for conducting paid polls. A poll presents two or more voting options, which participants my vote on by sending regular zap events which include an additional poll_option vote tag. Poll results may be blinded, until after users have voted. Polls may specify a closing time, after which results should be unblinded, closed to new votes, and considered final. Polls may also specify a consensus threshold.

Purpose

The purpose of poll notes is to conduct quantitative public opinion polls over nostr by requiring voters pay to participate. By tying vote amounts and counts to real satoshi valuations, nostr polls intend to provide superior signal compared with other free polling models. Imposing real monetary costs on participants should also discourage attempts at fraudulent result manipulation, by automated or other means.

Poll format

A poll is a self-contained nostr event which MUST have a primary description string specified in the content field, along with a predefined list of voting options. A poll MUST include at least 2 unique voting options, and each option MUST contain a corresponding, unique secondary description string. A poll MUST specify a primary tally method (value or count) and SHOULD specify a closing_time. A closing_time value of less than or equal to the created_at field indicates a poll SHOULD NOT be closed. Polls MAY also include a consensus_threshold integar (0-100), representing a percentage threshold for any single vote option to achieve poll consensus, with '0' indicative of null.

{
  "id": <32-bytes lowercase hex-encoded sha256 of the the serialized event data>
  "pubkey": <32-bytes lowercase hex-encoded public key of the event creator>,
  "created_at": <unix timestamp in seconds>,
  "kind": 6969,
  "tags": [
    ["e", <32-bytes hex of the id of another event>, <recommended relay URL>],
    ["p", <32-bytes hex of the key>, <recommended relay URL>],
    ["poll_options": [
      ["0", <poll option 0 description string>],
      ["1", <poll option 1 description string>],
      ["n", <poll option n description string>],
    ],
    ["tally_method", "value"||"count"],
    ["consensus_threshold", <integar (0..100)>],
    ["closing_time", <unix timestamp in seconds>],
  ],
  "content": <primary poll description string>,
  "sig": <64-bytes hex of the signature of the sha256 hash of the serialized event data, which is the same as the "id" field>
}

Zap vote format

Poll options are voted on by sending zap events (to the original poll event) which include 1 additional poll_option tag within their otherwise standard json structure. poll_option tags MUST include exactly 1 option from the list of predefined polling_options, referenced by its corresponding integar n:

"tags": [
  ...
  ["poll_option", "n"],
  ...
]

Poll outcomes

Votes may be tallied either by value or by count. To avoid ambiguity of a winning outcome, a primary tally method MUST be specified as either value or count. When a count tally method is specified, only a single vote (the most recent) per unique voter MUST be included in the tally, zap amounts MUST be ignored, and anonymous zaps MUST NOT be counted.

If a closing_time is specified, after it is passed, a poll should be unblinded publicly and MUST be treated as closed (late votes must not be tallied). Once closed, the option associated with either the most satoshis (value) or the most votes (counts), depending on tally method, MUST be treated as the winning option; while the distribution percentages across all vote options MUST be considered respresentative of the distribution of opinion amongst participants.

If a closing_time is not specified (or is less than or equal to created_at), all votes SHOULD be tallied into perpetuity, and the most recent tally SHOULD be treated as the definitive outcome.

Additionally, if a consensus threshold percentage is specified, and any single option's associated value (or vote count) percentage of the poll's total value (or vote count, respectively) exceeds the consensus threshold, then consensus MUST be considered attained.

Strict adherence to these requirements should enable a formal means of quantitatively assessing the distribution of opinion regarding a poll's content amongst poll participants, determining a winning outcome, and possibly acheiving consensus. However, until this protocol is further tested, refined, and proven robust, polls should probably not be considered authoritative nor binding.

TODO

• refine standardized polling formats based on dev feedback
• send pull request (RFC) to nostr-protocol/NIPs
• implement polls in 1 relay
• implement polls in 2 clients
• merge with nostr-protocol/NIPs