Commenter Mousebumples shares some Bluesky tips:
- Follow a TON of people. No algorithm, so you only see what is posted by people you follow or what they reskeet.
- https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:z3kpwld75x5aj2f7jyhuwjrw/feed/Jackals – Balloon Juice jackals feed. You can follow this without needing to follow all the Juicers, if you want
- There are tons of feeds generally, and I think it’s fairly searchable. Find what interests you!
- Since there’s no algorithm, if you want to share something with your own followers, you need to reskeet or quoteskeet. Liking is great… But that isn’t shown to your followers, typically (*there may be a setting to turn that on but I have that off)
- Check out all the settings. I have a WARN IF ALT TEXT MISSING thing turned on so if I try to post an image or GIF, I remember to make it accessibility friendly.
- Be sure to check out your default DM and autoplay settings so they match what you want.
- Block lists are public; mute lists are not. Block as you want – the nuclear block is great. But just something to be aware of.
I’m sure I’m forgetting stuff, but hopefully all these guides help you get acclimated.
You’ll find your # to follow sweet spot, but I’m following 2K people, though I’ve been here over a year at this point…
You can find way more starter kits here – https://blueskydirectory.com/starter-packs/all
Mousebumples also shared this link for more Bluesky information.
I’ll link this post in the future to help promote Bluesky, so please add more advice in the comments below. I’m by no means a social networking expert, so everyone’s advice is welcome.
Nukular Biskits
To all involved, thank you!
Mousebumples
I’m at dinner now, so I’ll look more closely later, but I also linked a bunch of stuff here – https://balloon-juice.com/2024/11/10/morning-reads-5/
Probably in the 40s for the comments, I think.
JAFD
There are a lot of first-rate people on the BJ Bluesky list, I feel quite humble amongst them.
I shall have to figure out how to put in one of the little-circle-profile pictures Real Soon Now.
Should you follow me, I hope you’ll find some of what I post relevant and/or interesting. Apologies in advance, for wasting your electrons, if it’s not.
Illegitimati non carborundum !
Mr. Mack
Still figuring it all out over there…but I followed as many Jackals as I could find and I think I got followed back by the pant-less guy.
Omnes Omnibus
Bluesky is working very hard to have a different posting culture from Twitter. People block frequently. It’s not that disagreement isn’t tolerated, but rather that there is no patience for people who just want to start shit. If someone comes in and acts like a Nazi, they get wished into the cornfield. They can still post, but you won’t ever see their posts and they will never see yours. If you are brave, ask about Alf Hog.
Mr. Mack
@Omnes Omnibus: Followed you to Bluesky since I’m off Twit.
Nukular Biskits
@Omnes Omnibus:
I saw the reference earlier.
Okay, so I’ll ask.
Baud
@Omnes Omnibus:
I’ve already blocked you.
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: Good choice.
Baud
Do people use the official app?
Betty Cracker
Thanks for posting this! It’s great to see x-Twitter mutuals leaving the hellsite behind and jumping on Bluesky.
Question about what to do with dormant x-Twitter accounts. I quit participating there more than a year ago (when Musk amplified an antisemitic account) and changed my profile to the following:
I’ve been reluctant to delete my x-Twitter account because 1) I don’t want a Nazi fuck-squib to squat on my nym, 2) I was kinda hoping Musk would croak or otherwise relinquish control and it would be fun again without that drama llama, and 3) I have a lot of good shit saved and am too lazy to download.
I opted out of letting them use my data for their AI bullshit, but I don’t trust them. Should I just bite the bullet and deactivate it?
Chris Johnson
@Betty Cracker: I haven’t deleted mine (did once, came back, leaving the final one for dead). There’s no point in deleting an account for numbers purposes because the guy will just spin up another million bots (always following ~7000 people and followed by a few dozen to a hundred). If you delete the account that’s just another available nym to do that with, if you don’t he could just start posting AS you. Either way it’s becoming obvious what’s going on: I’m not worried anyone will think Twitter puppeting is me. I didn’t even have my proper nym, and am prepared to tell anyone ‘I left there, anything happening isn’t me’.
Oh, also: Bluesky is pretty fun, and pretty nice. Be ready to block bad guys, blocks work on Bluesky, as do block-lists. You have to do all the following: NO ALGORITHM. And no ‘For You’. :D :D :D
Nukular Biskits
@Baud:
I’m curious about the app but I don’t do well mobile posting on anything, including here.
I’m an old, which means most of my activity is on my laptop. I use my cell phone for quick checks (like weather radar, email) or if I’m sitting in an airport on a layover.
frosty
Gee, my life is simpler! I never had a Xhitter account, so I don’t have to decide if, when, or how to deactivate it. I also don’t need to figure BlueSky out. Two hassles that just passed me by.
piratedan
an important thing to remember is that YOU have the power to cultivate your feed. You block someone, they stay blocked, you mute someone, you know that they are there but you don’t listen to them. It’s up to you what you like and repost. What feeds you choose to follow, again entirely up to you. If you want engagement, you have to engage. If you post pics/videos, use alt text to describe the pic to add commentary or explanation.
Bluesky doesn’t suffer from (as of yet) the mindset that just because you have a lot of followers it must mean that you’re all that… it all depends on what you want from the engagement, do you want to be informed? vent? converse? discuss? learn?
You can lurk there and that’s perfectly okay.
JoyceH
Okay, I just joined bluesky. I’m JoyceLH over there (JoyceH was already taken.) I joined Threads ages ago, but it seems to be a venue for poignant little slice of life narratives.
Nukular Biskits
@Betty Cracker: @Chris Johnson:
I don’t disagree with Chris here, but here’s what I did (or am still doing) after some discussion with others (including Kevin Kruse):
This means that no one can monetize your tweets, social influencers lose followers (or at least one) and no one can appropriate your account and post as you.
Now, having said that, it’s fucking Musk’s platform so he can definitely direct his tech team to unlock all those locked accounts and give them to an army of Russian bots, if he wanted.
Still, me doing all that did give me a small sense of satisfaction.
Nukular Biskits
@JoyceH:
Yeah, I really haven’t got into Thread, although I did spin an account up there.
I don’t really like it ’cause it’s just another Zuckerberg platform.
Aunt Kathy
I also don’t like socials on my phone & use my laptop for bsk. It works fine.
glc
The main difference between Mastodon and Bluesky is that if you decide you don’t like the way your server is handled on Mastodon you can easily shift to another one and take your followers and follows with you.
Bluesky has chosen not to implement that part of the federated system, so if their terms change, or they get sold, etc., and you feel a need to leave, you’ll be starting from scratch again.
This has played out quite a few times now, across a variety of platforms. They have VC funding so it is likely to be in the cards eventually. You can’t make money showing people what they ask to see. Or not as much as the other way.
For the moment it looks nice. But then, they always do when they are building up and locking in their customer base.
geg6
@frosty:
Come sit by me. I do not understand the attraction. At all. Plus, I’m reconsidering almost all my social media. It is a destructive force.
Mousebumples
@Baud: I do. Easiest on my phone. I think there are a few clients, similar to TweetDeck, but I can’t remember the names.
Nukular Biskits
@geg6:
Apropos, here’s what I posted about 20 minutes ago:
Orange is the New Red
I signed up for Bluesky through the link provided, and Followed a number of people. Now I have no idea how to get back in. Should I have downloaded an app first? Can you tell I struggle with navigating technology?
Mousebumples
@Betty Cracker: I’ve heard about some Ark like something that will let you port over your old Tweets for a price. That’s another option.
I’ve kept my account active (locked down), but I don’t know that I have that much essential there. I might nuke it all. We’ll see.
Baud
@Orange is the New Red:
I use it through the web.
Omnes Omnibus
@glc: I tried Mastodon when it started. I never took to it.
Uncle Cosmo
This reminds me of two things:
1. A few days back on my 3rd try I picked up a rental car in the process of dropping my >12 year old wheels ine off at a repair shop. Late model Cooper Mini. No owners manual. No instructions OF ANY SORT. I had to ask someone to show me how to start the car and how to put it in gear.
2. When I was a physics student I ran across a comment from Murray Gell-Mann, to the effect that there was only one text for quantum mechanics, and that was Dirac’s tome – but in order to read it you had to understand quantum mechanics in advance.
That’s kind of how I feel now. Having never done Twitter, or Xitter, or Shitter, I lack the minimum understanding of the medium to even start. I don’t even understand the terminology. For me Mousebumples’ comments might as well have been written in the native tongue of an 80-year-old Shqiptar with essential tremor.
Mousebumples
@Orange is the New Red: you should be able to login in your browser here – https://bsky.social/about
cain
Sorry, not doing bluesky – it’s techbro shit. I’m going with the open source where the community is in charge and safety is first.
There is no way a business like bluesky could not be co-opted.
Only non-centralized networks can be trusted.
ETA
I’ve realized that the open source movement is where we are going to have to start centering women and the those who don’t want fascism. I think it’s going to be very important going forward that we figure out create safe spaces. But one thing for sure, no company will ever provide that. Not ever.
Layer8Problem
@cain: I was assured that Bluesky is billionaire-proof, because reasons.
Omnes Omnibus
@cain: Okay.
karen marie
I’m with Cory Doctorow – joining Bluesky is as much a mistake as it was to join Twitter.
I do not understand complaints that “Mastodon is too complicated.” I switched when Apartheid Clyde bought Twitter and have never looked back. Trusting people who are in it for the money is a fool’s errand.
frosty
@geg6: All my social media … Balloon-Juice and FB, that’s it. I’ll keep FB for friends and cousins I don’t keep in touch with any other way. Unfortunately that comes with endless Reels and posts that have nothing to do with me. I block them from time to time but there are SO MANY!!!
cain
@Omnes Omnibus:
I’ve spent 30 years in open source. It’s filled with people who are neuro-diverse, transgender people, and not mainline.
I have the power and influence to organize our movement to center safety especially for women and LBGTQ+ and I’m going to use it.
The guy who started mastodon was actually a co-worker at a company we were both at.
cain
@Omnes Omnibus:
Hopefully, we can help with making it appealing for people like you. Give us time. The amount of money behind mastodon is not a lot.
Baud
Y’all crapping on Bluesky when I just started posting. Figures.
Layer8Problem
@Baud: Note the timing: when you started to use Bluesky. Q.E.D.
//
Baud
Is Bluesky not going to be federated? I thought that’s how it couldn’t be controlled?
Nukular Biskits
ARGH!!!!!!
Edit problems.
Nukular Biskits
@Baud:
DAMN YOU, BAUD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(not as funny when it takes you three time to get the post right!)
FlyingToaster
{Waving in “That’s my Feed!”}
Seriously, the BlueSky experience is like old Twitter once the third-party apps were in place.
geg6
@frosty:
Same. I’m sticking with blogs and keeping FB for distant family and friends. I’m also a member of local Dem groups there and we use it for organizing. If something comes along and all my FB groups and friends move over to it, I’ll get rid of FB, too. But I’m out of everything else and I won’t regret it, for sure. I’ve quit checking in on Insta and Tick Tock. I unsubscribed from You Tube channels on politics. I wiped all political discourse from my podcast library. It has made this period post-election bearable. I’m still depressed and angry, but I can function. I should have done this years ago.
FlyingToaster
@cain: It is no longer techbro, since Dorsey stomped out in Summer ’23.
It’s been entirely decentralized since last spring, open source, etc.
But you be you.
Nukular Biskits
@cain:
Well, to be fair, NO network can be truly trusted.
I signed up for Mastodon myself but found the hoops to jump through too many. While I don’t claim to be a social media IT or HMI expert, I am an engineer with over 37 years IT, SysAdmin and some cyber/IA experience and found it a lot easier to get my Bluesky account spun up and running.
Having said that, I do plan on revisiting Mastodon and finish setting things up but I simply don’t have time for multiple social media platforms.
Layer8Problem
@FlyingToaster: You can be techbro without Dorsey, although loss of Dorsey can only be a plus. He left the board in May.
FlyingToaster
@Baud: I use the official app on iOS; I use Sky.app on MacOS.
There are a bunch of 3rd party apps, more on Android than Mac or Windows.
@Baud: ATProto (BlueSky) is a different protocol than ActivityPub (Mastodon, Threads, Truth Social, etc). There is BridgeSky to talk between them, but I have no idea how it works.
zhena gogolia
@geg6: I have just been erupting into cursing rants every hour or so. The worst is on our daily walk when I have to walk by a couple of SHITHEAD 2024 signs in our neighborhood. I’ll probably be picked up by the police one of these days. I’m losing my mind. I CAN’T STAND TO LOOK AT OR THINK ABOUT THAT HUGE SACK OF SHIT FOR ONE MORE SECOND.
cain
@FlyingToaster:
I will always trust a community managed set up than a company set up. I don’t trust Bluesky. I’m happy at Mastodon. But you all do whatever works for you. No judgement.
But I’ve seen enough where I’ve seen many areas gone south because they need to deal with investors.
As long as you’re not on Twitter, it’s fine.
FlyingToaster
@Layer8Problem: Yeah, the most disturbing recent news was the VC money. I don’t remember which firm, but they are known bad actors.
Betty Cracker
@Omnes Omnibus: Same.
Layer8Problem
@FlyingToaster: It uses a different protocol from Mastodon’s ActivityPub. ActivityPub is a World Wide Web Consortium thing. Bluesky’s AT Protocol is overseen by Bluesky, so you have to use AT Protocol servers to federate. Supposedly a goal was for Bluesky servers to federate with Mastodon servers, but there just seems to be bridging between the two realms.
ETA which you actually mentioned up above.
FelonyGovt
Thank you for this. I recently joined and followed everyone on the BJ starter pack (thanks, Mousebumples!) BS seems quite pleasant so far. I’m rethinking social media in general, but it will probably be one of my remaining regulars.
ETA add me to the list of those who never really “got” Mastodon.
Mai Naem mobile ¹
@cain: I’ll admit I’m not good with tech..I tried Mastodon and couldn’t figure it out. I couldn’t get out of the group I had gotten into and honestly I had no interest in the group. It was a sci-fi group and I’m a big reader but never got into sci-fi. I don’t even know how I ended up in a sci-fi group.
The return of Mo Salad
I did not realize mousebumples already had a list. I will remove mine and defer to theirs.
cain
@Mai Naem mobile ¹:
Maybe we can do a zoom or something and get people onboarded?
Layer8Problem
I’ve never figured out the difficulty people had with Mastodon but I’m a single data point. I never used Twitter so I had no basis for comparison and Bluesky was tainted for me with Dorsey in the mix so I never gave it a shot. MajorX4 did a lot of evangelism around here for Bluesky but he came across to me at least as a bit of a starry-eyed fanboy and I’ve seen that before in tech environments, with middling to disastrous ends. I think he was the one who felt that federated Bluesky would be billionaire-proof. He also insisted that Mastodon was headed for a fall because it couldn’t scale. Chetan Murthy didn’t agree. Folks, please, correct me if I didn’t get any of that right.
In the end, Balloon Juice people are off Twitter and wherever they go if they are happy it’s a good thing.
Baud
@cain:
Onboarded where?
Weftage
@Mai Naem mobile ¹: I was on Mastodon for a while and hated it. When I first set up my account, I followed a bunch of interesting-looking hash tags, but then found that there was no way at all to unfollow them, when I decided I wanted to narrow my focus a bit. The only available interface had a “dark” theme, which doesn’t play nicely with my particular eyes. And my feed seemed to be full of very long-winded, very doctrinaire people who were certain that they had the Answer, if only you’d come to them sooner. I finally just deleted my account.
I tried a variety of other platforms, but Bluesky is the one I find easiest to use and best-stocked with things I want to see. I don’t much care about the VC issue. I understand (or think I do) why some regard that as problematic, but for myself, that’s a battle I’m not going to fight at this time.
As for hiding from the goons, I’m not in a position to do much about that. I’m on record as a longtime volunteer for a [woke!] organization, and, at my age, there is an accumulation of other tell-tales I couldn’t possibly erase if I wanted to. If they want to come after me, let them bring it. While they’re wasting their time on me, someone else is getting away.
Baud
@Weftage:
Awesome.
Omnes Omnibus
From BlueSky:
Layer8Problem
@Omnes Omnibus: A genuine question: What if the person asking is an employee of the federal government? Not trying to be a smart-ass here.
Baud
Apparently, people don’t use hashtags on Bluesky.
Omnes Omnibus
@Layer8Problem: To answer a question with a question, why would it matter?
Nukular Biskits
@Layer8Problem:
None of their fucking business.
Unless said federal employee is a federal prosecutor asking you questions while under oath.
Then you have a choice.
Layer8Problem
@Omnes Omnibus:
Forgive the delay but this isn’t my bailiwick. I only have the reference to what I think I’m thinking of from Wikipedia.
Everything I know about the law is from television. And a few weeks of working for a lunatic copying and stapling and folding those covers on legal documents.
Omnes Omnibus
@Layer8Problem: Okay. Let’s put it this way, if there is a law that says you need to turn in your neighbor if they have an abortion, how to you respond? Also, it’s very hard to prosecute someone for an “I don’t know” or “I don’t remember” answer.
Layer8Problem
@Omnes Omnibus: Thanks, that’s good information and I’m good at those kinds of answers. 🙂
Mousebumples
@Baud: I do! You can search by or mute by words or hashtags, and hashtags are clickable.
Do we need to make #Baud! happen?
Ksmiami
@Layer8Problem: Wait, at Twitter, they’re finding out a deranged Nazi circle jerk isn’t all that fun or satisfying…? I’m shocked
The return of Mo Salad
Please add me to the starter pack. See blue link.
Kayla Rudbek
@zhena gogolia: I have been reading Reddit Unethical Life Pro Tips and taking notes.
NaijaGal
Joined Bluesky a few days ago and I’ve been following as many Balloon Juicers as I can. I still primarily post on mastodon, which is where I moved after I left twitter (before it became X).
Who owns Bluesky? Not understanding that fully is the one thing that gives me pause.
JaySinWA
@Omnes Omnibus: What do we really know about someone else anyway? Unless we actually witnessed it, do we know it, and can we trust that what we saw is sufficient to know what happened? Known unknowns and all that.
JaySinWA
Adding my bsky profile to my BJ website URL
weasel
@glc:
Thanks for mentioning masto! I went there went the foul place changed owners but am fixin’ to fire up a Bluesky account as well. Masto will be my main I suspect.
There were rumors Bluesky would open up to ActivityPub and join the Fediverse, as Threads has done in a limited fashion (the only good think I’ll say about the Zucking IG/TT spawn). Any recent news on BS opening up?
weasel
@cain: Hear hear!
weasel
@Baud:
Had heard the same and been waiting to join until it happens, until then what time I spend in that world is on masto
weasel
@cain:
I was keeping track of all the folks that said they had problems with masto and it was getting long! I think this is a great idea.
I’m a minor dabbler in social media, but took to to Mastodon right away and participated far more openly and enjoyably that I had in my very light usage of Twitter which started to get much heavier, as in I’d like things, and maybe rarely replied) in the last few years before it went foul.
Gloria DryGarden
@Baud: me too. Not much room for more apps. Still trying to catch on.
grubert
@karen marie: thanks for the Doctrow link.. he makes a solid case and it changed my mind.
Yeah, that can happen.. I myself am amazed ;
Going for Mastodon instead
way2blue
I’ve been on Bluesky for a while, but haven’t done much with it. (Been using Nitter.) But now that people are flooding there post-election, I’m following ~50 accounts. With more to add. And wondering if there’s a way to organize them? Any tips would be appreciated. Even simply a way to reorder them… Thanks.
UncleEbeneezer
Alright Gina…you made me do it.
I’m on BlueSky as uncle-ebeneezer for anyone who wants to connect there.
Ilias
I made a tool for Bluesky to find starter packs: https://blueskystarterpack.com/
Ruckus
@Uncle Cosmo:
I had a twitter account. When it was taken over and made far worse I just left and have never gone back. To me the most amazing thing was that I haven’t missed it in the least. I am a tad curious about bsky but the reality is that I am an old, old fart and really my curiosity about it is right down about nil. I’ve been at BJ almost since it first appeared and of the sites I’ve seen, rates a pretty good. It’s like a back fence in a very large and good neighborhood.
Ruckus
@Betty Cracker:
I just left. I have no idea if it makes much difference if you delete or not that may just be the public side of your account – it may not actually delete everything, except access from the outside. A lot of money is spent for storage of an account so his nibs likely will use it for something, it’s not like he actually respects anyone other than the thing he sees in the mirror.
Kosh III
Never had the twit or anything else but FB which is mostly to keep up with friends and kinfolk.
I listened to a few minutes of Stephanie Miller on Sirius while going to run an errand. Some guy Malcolm who is a blogger suggested two things that sounded interesting.