How decentralized is Bluesky really? -- Dustycloud Brainstorms
dustycloud.org

This is a pretty great, long form post about the structure of Bluesky, and how it’s largely kinda pretending to be decentralized at the moment. I’m not trying to make a dig at it. I’ve enjoyed the platform myself for a while, but it’s good to learn more about how it actually works.

This article was shared on Mastodon via its author here.

  • @solrizeEnglish
    -7•9 hours ago

    People have been saying bsky is even worse than Twitter in terms of user bullying. Sort of the opposite way though. Instead of rampant toxicity you get beaten down for anything that bothers anyone. And that basically means everything. So, I’m just staying away.

      • @solrizeEnglish
        -3•7 hours ago

        I’m going by a post on another forum by a regular there who has experienced this and says his colleagues have too. That’s good enough for me. I’m not really interested in bsky anyway.

        Is it totally authoritative? Probably not, but it’s as good as when a Lemmy poster identifies problems with some particular model of cell phone so I decide not to buy it. We all take info like that on board all the time.

    • @[email protected]English
      11•9 hours ago

      if there is, I haven’t seen any. ive been using it quite a bit. its probably like most social media where if you don’t engage with that kind of content, it doesn’t show it to you.

      • @[email protected]English
        3•5 hours ago

        But the best people - all the best people - and these really are good people, you know? They’re good, the best, just wonderful people, and they say - I didn’t ask, they told me!

    • @DomeGuyEnglish
      7•9 hours ago

      Thats not really what happens, unless you’re so toxic that old-twitter would actually ban you.

      Bsky has a “nuclear block”, that essentially removes you and the target from even existing on the version of the site each other see. If you’re ok with just talking to folk who are on your side of a “no, shutup” line, like “trans women are women” or “trans is a mental disorder” you’ll be fine.

      The issue is that a bunch of folk who abscribe to the second apparently just want to troll the first, so they get blocked by their targets, have no fun, and then complain to reporters still on twitter.

      • @solrizeEnglish
        -1•8 hours ago

        They apparently have a feature to label other users as anti science or whatever. Actual scientists have gotten that label, oops.

    • @flying_gelEnglish
      6•9 hours ago

      I tried to look this up but I couldn’t find much. The “worst” I found was this:

      Some users have expressed concerns about the platform’s moderation practices, suggesting that the community’s emphasis on inclusivity and respect may lead to over-sensitivity, where even minor disagreements or differing opinions are met with significant backlash. This environment can create a perception of excessive policing of content, potentially discouraging open dialogue.

      Where are you reading that people are saying that it’s worse than twitter? Is it right wing people that are saying that because they put emphasis on inclusivity and respect?

      • @CarbonatedPastaSauceEnglish
        13•8 hours ago

        That’s exactly what it is. The trolls and bot runners and MAGA chuds are pissed that we can completely prevent them from interacting with us there. And with curated blocklists it doesn’t even require work for the average user.

        They can come to bsky but they’ll just be screaming at each other while the rest of us talk about cool stuff.

      • @solrizeEnglish
        -2•6 hours ago

        The person I’m thinking of is left wing, I would say. He got labeled as a science denier after some very technical post about the covid virus. Regardless of the merit of the viewpoint, the existence of such a labelling feature is a huge turn-off to me.