One thing AT Proto advocates studiously ignore are discussions about whether AT Proto is actually capable of being truly decentralized. @cwebber has raised the issue of quadratic scaling of the network as it goes wide (more instances). If this is true, and no one has refuted it, then it will be effectively impossible for the network to accommodate more large instances.
It is weird how criticising Bluesky or the AT protocol can attract replies similar to those that appeared when criticising cryptocurrency in 2020-ish.
It's sometimes really toxic "you just don't understand" rants, sometimes pages long, making accusations of being out to get Bluesky and/or AT, even personal attacks and swearing.
With most protocol criticism you get quite dry straightforward level-headed technical responses or rebuttals, but when Bluesky/AT is criticised there is often a hyperdefensive and accusatory reaction. It's really odd and offputting.
@sharifgaza is verified by Molly Shah on #bluesky. He can't be verified by #GazaVerified because he's not in #Gaza, he's in Egypt. Sharif is still in need because he's a Palestinian #refugee with no income.
Sharif needs spinal surgery and his son also needs urgent medical treatment, which he cannot afford. gofundme.com/f/dd6vn-donate-to…
The curious mystery of the Bluesky Series B funding round.
Did it happen?
If you look at pitchbook (pitchbook.com/profiles/company…) it seems Bluesky closed a whopping $97 million funding round resulting in a $700M valuation in January 2025. VCpedia lists Greylock, alumni ventures and Skyseed as participants (vcpedia.com/rounds/5195).
The interesting thing is there are no press releases or other media coverage confirming this financing.
Blacksky has already built their own ATProto stack that's fully independent from Bluesky.
Now Eurosky is making progress as they roll out their own PDS.
I see more independent infrastructure springing up on atp.fyi/network, including AppViews.
For anyone hoping that we'll get another wave of people coming to the fediverse once Bluesky folds/enshittifies, that might not necessarily be the case as people will have more options to stay in the Atmosphere.
ooh.. Then we should try to find people on #Bluesky who can report it! You could try sending a "please report this account if you're on Bluesky" post, on Fedi?
If you want more of something you should post it yourself, upscrolled will end in tears, especially their "we dont moderate on political bases" is a red flag that they will basically go the same way as bluesky. In case you didnt know, "politics" is used in this context to allow people to continue abusive or harmful behaviour that the moderator doesn't consider "political" and then those that speak out against it are considered political, I can't get into the entire history of similar cases right now but I've posts about problems with bluesky and I predict many of these will happen on upscrolled
Its basically got the same red flags as "free speech" enthusiasts
@7Segiri13@ohai.social
bluesky is now hosting accounts for White House, Homeland Security / ICE, Department of War, JD Vance etc which are posting fascist propaganda [1] this combined with numerous other failures like banning pro palestine accounts…
@zotheca In the case of #Bluesky, because they are actually not a federated network, and retain centralized control, they are responsible for all the accounts on the network. They pretend that people can leave, but there is nowhere to go, so such accounts have much more leverage. They can, in effect, dare Bsky to ban them and then go after them if they do.
I will be opting my account out of the #Bluesky bridge next week. If you follow me from Bluesky (I think there are about 3.9K of you) and want to continue seeing my posts you will need to get an account on the fediverse. Cheers.
"The problem is that it is the presence of ICE itself that is already causing the harm. The intimidation of ‘we are here, you cannot escape us’ is the point, and the accounts by the regime are deliberately trying to provoke an outrage." connectedplaces.online/reports…
On some level, I think this is correct, but I also wonder if the administration isn't also daring the Bluesky LLC to ban them, so that they can justify a more hostile stance toward the network. #politics #USPol #Bluesky
As #Threads adds ads, and as one of its employees describes this as "good news", I'm glad that #Mastodon (and #Bluesky, for now) provides a totally chronological feed, by default.
W is a new platform recently announced, aspiring to be a European alternative to X.
It may actually be powered by ATProto, based on leaked screenshots.
This is a win for ATProto
An important PSA for people who are active on #Bluesky and who, upon hearing that the ICE account was officially verified, are saying: "I will just block it."
Blocking on Bluesky is NOT PRIVATE: it's very easy to see who is blocking any account by visiting sites that list that information.
I took a screenshot from clearsky.app, listing all the accounts that are blocking ICE (I pixelated avatars and usernames for privacy purposes).
The safest bet is to mute (that info is private) 😫
Head's up, if you want to disconnect the bridge to Bluesky, here are the instructions. I exercised this option today, as a result of them "blue checking" ICE. I'd never allow Federation of an ActivityPub instance with Nazis on it, and Bluesky is no exception. #Bluesky
I'm well aware that posting this info on the Fediverse seems like a pointless exercise, but it's to raise awareness and spread the word to people active in BOTH places.
I was never really active on #Bluesky and entirely stopped using it months ago but there's no point in posting this info there because I have zero reach. Or rather: 1100+ followers and 1-2 likes (at best!) and zero comments for any post. It's like I'm shadow-banned.
If you use it and enjoy it no judgement but please be safe!
An important PSA for people who are active on #Bluesky and who, upon hearing that the ICE account was officially verified, are saying: "I will just block it."
Blocking on Bluesky is NOT PRIVATE: it's very easy to see who is blocking any account by visiting sites that list that information.
I took a screenshot from clearsky.app, listing all the accounts that are blocking ICE (I pixelated avatars and usernames for privacy purposes).
The safest bet is to mute (that info is private) 😫
Well, I recently discovered that Bluesky got one step closer to decentralization: It is now possible to set up DIDs without depending on Bluesky's services. If you look into the AT spec, you will find that there are now two types of DIDs that can be used for Bluesky: did:plc (which can only be issued by Bluesky) and did:web which essentially consist of a domain name. So an AT user of johndoe.example.com could have a DID of did:web:johndoe.example.com.
About Bluesky and federation: Edit: There might be some mistakes, and my information could be outdated, but the point still stands - Bluesky wasn't built on 100% federation from the start.
I've been wondering about Bluesky's decentralization again. I can't think of any reason why I'd want to self-host Bluesky in its current form. I cannot 100% self host "my own Bluesky".
Their main selling points for building their own protocol were easier migration and better discoverability, but right now there's no simple way to migrate my Bluesky account to my own instance. And hosting the centralized parts yourself isn't really possible, or if it were, not affordable, they haven't made that feasible, by design, it seems.
Even if you self-host a PDS, Bluesky's Relay only indexes up to 10 accounts from it. You can run more, but they won't federate, the central infrastructure decides what gets seen. They control this (source:
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About Bluesky and federation: Edit: There might be some mistakes, and my information could be outdated, but the point still stands - Bluesky wasn't built on 100% federation from the start.
I've been wondering about Bluesky's decentralization again. I can't think of any reason why I'd want to self-host Bluesky in its current form. I cannot 100% self host "my own Bluesky".
Their main selling points for building their own protocol were easier migration and better discoverability, but right now there's no simple way to migrate my Bluesky account to my own instance. And hosting the centralized parts yourself isn't really possible, or if it were, not affordable, they haven't made that feasible, by design, it seems.
Even if you self-host a PDS, Bluesky's Relay only indexes up to 10 accounts from it. You can run more, but they won't federate, the central infrastructure decides what gets seen. They control this (source: docs.bsky.app/blog/self-host-f….). You can self-host a PDS (Personal Data Server), but you still depend on Bluesky's centralized Relay and AppView. There's no production-ready alternative infrastructure from what I gather.
It feels like I'd be renting a room in a hotel that someone else is running anyway, when I want my own hotel.
If Mastodon gGmbH vanishes tomorrow, my instance keeps running and federating with everyone else. If Bluesky PBC vanishes, the ecosystem would need to scramble to stand up replacement infrastructure that doesn't really exist yet.
ATProto keeps getting evaluated on its promises while other systems get evaluated on their merits. The "portability" selling point depends on infrastructure that isn't mature enough to actually catch you if Bluesky falls.
I trust W3C, the builders and fathers of the World Wide Web, ActivityPub and the Fediverse.
