nips/32.md

NIP-32
======

Labeling
---------

`draft` `optional` `author:staab` `author:gruruya` `author:s3x-jay`

A label is a `kind 1985` event that is used to label other entities. This supports a number of use cases:

- Distributed moderation and content recommendations
- Reviews and ratings
- Definition of edges in a graph structure

Label Target
----

The label event MUST include one or more tags representing the object or objects being
labeled: `e`, `p`, `a`, `r`, or `t` tags. This allows for labeling of events, people, relays,
or topics respectively. As with NIP-01, a relay hint SHOULD be included when using `e` and
`p` tags.

Label Tag
----

This NIP introduces a new tag `l` which denotes a label, and a new `L` tag which denotes a label namespace.
A label MUST include a mark matching an `L` tag. `L` tags refer to a tag type within nostr, or a nomenclature
external to nostr defined either formally or by convention. Any string can be a namespace, but publishers SHOULD
ensure they are unambiguous by using a well-defined ISO standard or reverse domain name notation. Some examples:

Namespaces starting with `#` indicate that the label target should be associated with the label's value.
This is a way of attaching standard nostr tags to events, pubkeys, relays, urls, etc.

- `["l", "footstr", "#t"]` - the publisher thinks the given entity should have the `footstr` topic applied.
- `["l", "<pubkey>", "#p"]` - the publisher thinks the given entity is related to `<pubkey>`
- `["l", "D005528", "MeSH"]` - ["Foot"](https://meshb.nlm.nih.gov/record/ui?ui=D005528) from NIH's Medical Subject Headings vocabulary
- `["l", "3173435", "GeoNames"]` - [Milan, Italy](https://www.geonames.org/3173435/milan.html) using the GeoNames coding system
- `["l", "IT-MI", "ISO-3166-2"]` - Milano, Italy using ISO 3166-2.
- `["l", "VI-hum", "social.nos.ontology"]` - Violence toward a human being as defined by ontology.nos.social.
- `["l", "review", "social.coracle.ontology"]` - the publisher is leaving a review about the target, as defined by ontology.coracle.social.

`L` tags containing the label namespaces MUST be included in order to support searching by
namespace rather than by a specific tag. The special `ugc` ("user generated content") namespace
MAY be used when the label content is provided by an end user.

`l` and `L` tags MAY be added to other event kinds to support self-reporting. For events
with a kind other than 1985, labels refer to the event itself.

Label Annotations
-----

A label tag MAY include a 4th positional element detailing extra metadata about the label in question. This string
should be a json-encoded object. Any key MAY be used, but the following are recommended:

- `quality` may have a value of 0 to 1. This allows for an absolute, granular scale that can be represented in any way (5 stars, color scale, etc).
- `confidence` may have a value of 0 to 1. This indicates the certainty which the author has about their rating.
- `context` may be a comma-separated list of urls (including NIP-21 urls) indicating other context that should be considered when interpreting labels.

Content
-------

Labels should be short, meaningful strings. Longer discussions, such as for a review, or an
explanation of why something was labeled the way it was, should go in the event's `content` field.

Example events
--------------

A single event can apply multiple labels to multiple targets to support mass-tagging. Multiple
namespaces may be used at the same time.

```json
{
  "kind": 1985,
  "tags": [
    ["e", <id>, <relay_url>],
    ["p", <id>, <relay_url>],
    ["t", "chickens"],
    ["L", "#t"]
    ["L", "ugc"]
    ["L", "com.example.labels"]
    ["l", "chickens", "#t"],
    ["l", "user generated content", "ugc"],
    ["l", "permaculture", "com.example.labels"],
    ["l", "permies", "com.example.labels"],
    ["l", "farming", "com.example.labels"],
  ],
  "content": "",
  ...
}
```

A suggestion that multiple pubkeys be associated with the `permies` topic.

```json
{
  "kind": 1985,
  "tags": [
    ["L", "#t"],
    ["l", "permies", "#t"],
    ["p", <pubkey1>, <relay_url>],
    ["p", <pubkey2>, <relay_url>]
  ],
  "content": "",
  ...
}
```

A review of a relay, as relates to certain topics, including additional dimensions. The author
is indicating here that `relay_url` is related to the bitcoin topic, but they're not very sure
that's the case.

```json
{
  "kind": 1985,
  "tags": [
    ["L", "#t"],
    ["l", "bitcoin", "#t", "{\"quality\": 0.7, \"confidence\": 0.2}"],
    ["r", <relay_url>]
  ],
  "content": "I think this relay is mostly just bitcoiners.",
  ...
}
```

A plain review of a relay.

```json
{
  "kind": 1985,
  "tags": [
    ["L", "social.coracle.ontology"],
    ["l", "review", "social.coracle.ontology", "{\"quality\": 0.1}"],
    ["r", <relay_url>]
  ],
  "content": "This relay is full of mean people.",
  ...
}
```

A more abstract use case: defining an edge in a graph structure, in this case identifying
a lightning channel that is open between two pubkeys. This just demonstrates the flexibility
this spec provides for overlaying structured metadata on top of nostr.

```json
{
  "kind": 1985,
  "tags": [
    ["L", "my-lightning-nomenclature"],
    ["l", "channel", "my-lightning-nomenclature"],
    ["p", <pubkey1>, <relay_url>],
    ["p", <pubkey2>, <relay_url>]
  ],
  "content": "<channel_id>",
  ...
}
```

Publishers can self-label by adding `l` tags to their own non-1985 events.

```json
{
  "kind": 1,
  "tags": [
    ["L", "social.nos.ontology"],
    ["l", "IL-frd", "social.nos.ontology"]
  ],
  "content": "Send me 100 sats and I'll send you 200 back",
  ...
}
```

Other Notes
-----------

When using this NIP to bulk-label many targets at once, events may be deleted and a replacement
may be published. We have opted not to use parameterizable/replaceable events for this due to the
complexity in coming up with a standard `d` tag.