Earlier quoted context omitted.
None of that is true
Please point me to instructions on how to make my own bluesky instance that federates with the existing bluesky, and which does not rely on bluesky's authentication.
Bluesky now has 30 million users
171–180 of 192 posts
Re: Bluesky now has 30 million users
#172You would think people would learn from their mistakes and not move onto another centralized platform backed by VC money, but here we are.
People don’t really care about decentralisation. Bluesky arrived at the right time, unlike Mastodon.
They only care about their filter bubble, and BlueSky provides a guaranteed hermetic experience.
Re: Bluesky now has 30 million users
#173Has anyone managed to get a "functioning" tech discussion feed on bluesky? I tried not long ago, mostly help me get acquaintanced with the ruby ecosystem and news, but even using starter packs and the like the best I got was following devs that mostly talked about non tech stuff (personal life, politics and the like). Particularly annoying was the constant "we hate twitter" posts (I know, I'm here now, so why are we…
Not sure when that was, but there's significantly more dev stuff now since around November, e.g. the iOS devs I knew from Twitter showed up there now and are posting regularly (including dev stuff), while before last autumn it was hard to find any of them there.
Re: Bluesky now has 30 million users
#174The success of Bluesky has been driven, in part, by the sophistication of their system for blocking. I know this is the main thing that draws me in. There are many people who, on a volunteer basis, build block lists that I can subscribe to. I've subscribed to many of these, more than 20, to block Nazis, scammers, MAGA, crypto bots, Russian trolls, fans of Elon Musk, racists, various political causes, and more. I've b…
Well, people want a sealed filter bubble. And BlueSky provides that.
Re: Bluesky now has 30 million users
#175Earlier quoted context omitted.
total: https://bsky.jazco.dev/stats
So not users but accounts.
Re: Bluesky now has 30 million users
#176No Ads. 100% user-centric moderation controls. Blockity block! Block lists are a godsend. This is what made Dorsey quit the board and abandon the platform. He actually believed the masses wanted a libertarian platform that forced you to listen to assholes. We don’t. No opaque algorithms controlling your timeline. Feeds to create topic centric timelines. Decentralized. You can host your own data. Other hosts can offer…
The other key feature there has been proactive platform moderation -- truly bad actors have been banned early & you can block a whole list of bad-faith accounts at once. AT proto seems like it would be perfect for a wikipedia-style fact check organization.
But who will believe a group that can’t take the heat?
Re: Bluesky now has 30 million users
#177What's the real business model behind it? Sell "custom" names? That's not going to get you very far.
They want to add some optional subscriptions in near future (a la Discord), and more long term they want to have some way of creators earning money from their followers and Bluesky getting a commission from that.
Re: Bluesky now has 30 million users
#178The reason Twitter was successful is they paid celebrities and corporations to join their network. That usage seems to have waned in favor of Instagram, but Twitter is still the #1 place for breaking news, especially in the sports world. I think many people supporting bluesky assume the value is in attracting the plebeians. I don't see that being the case. There are already Facebook groups and reddit (among tradition…
Not yet, but in the echo chamber I dwell in, a lot of orgs are joining Bluesky, and most actually left X. These are mostly journalists, scientists or people involved in politics. At some point, it may become impossible for some of these groups - probably starting with journalists - to do their work and not be on bluesky. They will be on X and bluesky. Maybe. If it happens, then bluesky will eventually replace X. Beca…
BlueSky only will work for people that want messaging control more than discussion.
Re: Bluesky now has 30 million users
#179Earlier quoted context omitted.
Bluesky asks about which server to use on registration like mastodon.social does. For me the difference seems to be better marketing for Bluesky which makes people want to deal with the change and somewhat enjoy it rather than see every obstacle as a pain. Bluesky does have some advantages like starter packs (and network effect now that it has so many accounts).
Not sure if we're using the same method, but when I go to sign up it asks me for a username, then selects @bsky.social as my full username.
On the previous screen, you can change your account provider
Re: Bluesky now has 30 million users
#180And with that, I think the door on Mastodon gaining widespread adoption is closed forever. We had a very brief window when the Twitter Exodus was happening and non-techies were giving Mastodon a try. But it wasn't good enough, as far as giving the Twitter refugees what they wanted to see, and so they simply moved on to the nearest Twitter-With-The-Numbers-Filed-Off platform and stayed there instead. There's probably…
But to be honest the UX of Mastodon is just unusable. Following someone is not a click on Follow button. It's the most basic feature I can think of. And it's complicated there. It just couldn't work. Bluesky just did it better.
I agree that the UX of Mastodon was not the best. I tried several times to use it and it just never "clicked". Bluesky just worked for me, almost without trying.
Maybe my problem with Mastodon was choosing the server to join. My brain knows that it's federated and it really doesn't matter which server you choose. However it always felt like I was choosing the wrong server somehow. Just that little bit of friction was enough to drive me away.