I wanted to put up a post for Balloon Juice readers/commenters to share their updates/wisdom/handles/tips on Bluesky. Here’s the original post on Bluesky basics from Mousebumples. Since that post, a couple of weeks ago, Bluesky has continued its growth and it’s clearly well on its way to replacing Twitter for non-MAGA politics nerds.
Part of the reason that Bluesky is snowballing is because it doesn’t suck the way that Twitter, Threads, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok do. The algorithm on those sites is constantly being gamed/trained by the owner (Twitter), by “influencers” (Instagram/Threads), perhaps by China or some 15 year old who just discovered caffeine (TikTok) and by everyone’s grandparents (Facebook). AOC as usual gets it:
Bluesky serves up content the way that a lot of humans want it: sequentially, by date and time posted. I have to say that the one downside of this, for me at least, is that the plugged-in politics people that I follow often repost the same thing. But that’s not much of a downside.
A lot is being made by Bluesky getting to this point with only 20 employees, but in fairness they had a head start as a spinoff from Twitter, and they also have insurance against enshittification because they are a public benefit corporation that isn’t under the pressure that venture-funded startups feel to become a billion dollar moonshot. The closest analogue to Bluesky might possibly be Wikipedia, but that site relies far more on volunteers that Bluesky.
Hopefully, the success of Bluesky will raise some consciousness about how the demands of VCs that every company they fund become a multi-billion dollar enterprise leads to garbage outcomes. A modestly profitable company can still create something that people want to use. Since Bluesky really just needs to cover expenses, I am pretty confident that a modest membership program where being a member buys you extra features will make enough to keep the site funded indefinitely.
Please keep it to Bluesky in the comments, thanks, since I’m going to link to this post when Bluesky comes up next.
dp
I’ve been there a couple of weeks, since deleting my Twitter account, and I just find it a very pleasurable experience. I have no magic tips, but the ability to just accept a feed without any of the crap is just great.
twbrandt
I’ve found lists to be extremely useful in managing the firehose of the main following feed. I have a “friends” feed made up of people I know in real life, the “Balloon Juice” list created by mousebumples, and another “go blue” feed made up of University of Michigan sportsball fans.
dp
@dp: Oh, and I’m @donaldwprice.bsky.social, I think.
Another Scott
TechCrunch.com (from 10/24):
The Techbros and magic beans people always stick their fingers in anything that seems to be growing these days. And their whole business model is to cash out for as much as possible as soon as possible, no matter the consequences to the actual business.
tl;dr – Enjoy that it’s better, but don’t expect it to actually be different in the long term, IMHO.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Doug R
This thread seems like a good place to build a database of Bluesky Balloon Juicers?
@dredecopp.bsky.social
narya
I’m @gingerchef. I’m enjoying the site a lot. The influx of new folks has some challenges, but the ethos of “block early and often” helps, and as public figures I followed on the bad place move to Bsky, I’m getting a lot of what I liked before the bad place was destroyed.
FelonyGovt
I’m enjoying it a lot, and taking great glee in the block lists, where you can banish multiple MAGA choads, sniveling incels and the like with one click. Hoping some of the sports and other discussions I enjoyed on Twitter back before Elno migrate there as well.
dc
BlueSkyers (Has anyone started calling the platform BS and users BSers?) please bridge to the Fediverse, ie. Mastodon:
https://fed.brid.gy/docs#bluesky-get-started
It’s easy to do. I’m @[email protected] on Mastodon.
ArchTeryx
In truth, BlueSky DOES rely a lot on volunteers. It was one such volunteer that pointed out that an account I was responding to was a scam/impostor account and prevented them from ripping me off. Volunteers are who let the paid mods know that high profile nazis joined and they are immediately booted off. Volunteers keep the block lists up to date, especially ones aimed at… well, nazis. They are seemingly everywhere telling people to not feed the trolls, and since that was established from the very first day of BlueSky, it’s a rule most people honor.
For now, volunteers are what keep BlueSky fumigated and termite-free. Because they never quit trying to get in and eat away at the foundations
@archteryx.bsky.social. Expect a lot of furry art postings; I have a series up right now with my little Japanese kami (guardian spirit) Kiliki, and her (mis)adventures with her friend Frog. It’s “predator makes friends with their prey,” with a very large twist to it.
planet eddie
@planeteddie
This finally convinced me. Made an account and posted one thing. Can my ADHD handle more than one social media account, oh god….
arrieve
I rarely post but I’m @arrieve.bsky.social.
I rarely got hit with the toxic sludge on Twitter/X because I only looked at the people I followed, and I hated to give up on the communities I found there. But I can’t even remember the last time I looked there. Bluesky is becoming everything I ever liked about the old place.
Kristine
@dc: I’m bridged, but confused about how that works. Do my Bluesky/Mastodon posts cross over? What’s the gain?
I’m ksmithsf.bsky.social (also @[email protected] over on Mastodon).
thedeadcanary
Old grandma here. Very happy I joined Bluesky and am following most of the great people I used to follow on the bad place. Always been mostly a lurker here and over there. However, I haven’t posted anything and yet I have 10-15 followers. Are they bots? How do they glom onto someone’s feed who hasn’t posted anything yet? Otherwise, delighted with the new place.
dc
@Kristine: You just gained one follower, me :)
Mastodon accounts also have to bridge to be able to comment on BlueSky accounts. I am bridged.
I followed your Mastodon account too.
marcopolo
Not on bluesky but I follow some folks from the outside (did the same thing on xshitter for years tho I think just about all my follows there have now migrated). Hope this post is right that bluesky will not have problems covering expenses as they get larger (if they can do it without some form of “ads” I will be pleasantly surprised. A larger issue of concern as they’ve grown is verification of accounts. The method bluesky promotes is to use your domain (as if all of us have a registered domain) in your bluesky handle. That just doesn’t seem workable as more and more folks (and scammers) join. There are also attempts at community verification (see Hunter Walker on bluesky for that) that folks posting from an account are who they are. Not sure how well that will work in the long run. Last but not least, second Another Scott on how the long term development of the platform works out. Enshittification is a thing that seems to be closely aligned with the way a lot of humans think. The Bluesky folks will say “well, if you decided you don’t like where we are going, the ATP allows you to pick up and go elsewhere,” but I honestly don’t understand how it works well enough and how the all important “critical mass of users” would persist through that.
Wishing everyone a lovely Thanksgiving. No idea where we will be a year from now so make it a good and enjoyable one!
jeff47
For those like me who were looking for Major^4’s previous post with starter packs, etc:
https://balloon-juice.com/2024/11/12/and-now-a-long-bluesky-post/
Omnes Omnibus
@thedeadcanary: Some people automatically follow back if you follow them.
Central Planning
[email protected] here (or there)
Somewhere there’s a list of BJers over there. Was that something Rose did recently?
Kristine
@arrieve: I agree. I’m on Threads, but it’s not the same and the IG instant crossover was a mistake. I tried Spoutible and at least one other Twitter substitute and none of them felt right. On Bluesky, I’m seeing the same folks I followed on Twitter and I think that’s what’s making it feel like the old place.
Oh, and the block hammer. Been using that a lot. It’s also easier to report impersonation accounts—I’ve reported/blocked 2 so far. One unfortunate byproduct of increasing popularity is the influx of garbage but the block lists really help.
oklahomo
I can tell it’s had a sudden growth spurt — got my first 2 shady DMs last week from people trying to scam for money (after being on it for a year now).
thedeadcanary
@Omnes Omnibus: Thanks. But the followers are not anyone I have followed so mystery remains. But I will follow you!
Baud
Agree.
MattF
Bluesky seems pretty good, despite the looming crypto clouds… Many migrants out of X/Twitter, effective blocking, easy to join up and lurk. I’d use a dedicated ‘news’ feed, if there was one.
Paul in Jacksonville
I don’t do X, and I don’t do Bluesky. It seems to me that a Venn diagram would show two circles that do not intersect anywhere? Any help would be appreciated.
Kristine
@dc: Followed you back on both places.
Sometimes you need to explain things like I’m five—I’ve added my BS account to the fediverse BS whatever they’re doing. How do I bridge from Mastodon to Bluesky?
dc
@Kristine: To bridge from Mastodon:
https://fed.brid.gy/docs#bluesky-get-started
MattF
And… BlueSky now has the World Bollard Association, so I’m sold.
ETA: Which I’d link to if I knew how.
Tarragon
@thedeadcanary: There are certainly spammers who are trying to get engagement. I had a follower about ten minutes after opening my account. The profile made it clear they were a crypto booster / scammer[1] and I blocked them.
[1] I’m not sure that there is a difference.
Montanareddog
I don’t apply the block lists because I fear they can be gamed. But I may consult them and check the content posted by the accounts myself before taking a blocking decision. For prima facie contentious replies to my (rare) posts or my follows, I will also check before blocking.
But I think I get more satisfaction from identifying trolls and MAGAts and blocking them than from a lot of the positive content. Says a lot about me, I guess.
Time Travelin
I miss the porn bots and Temu ads but not the infinite variety of “cRyHArdEr lib” replies.
@itsnotbread.bsky.social
Wag
I’m on Bluesky
@wsr3.bsky.social
The return of Mo Salad
Please fill out some profile basics before following everybody. The code word is Jackal.
While I am pretty sure who pabf-librarian is, I have no clue on others.
I run two starter packs and am in a couple of others and bad actors are starting to drift in and see the lists as easy targets.
Example, cryptobros trying to add everyone from my Tax CPA list get blocked immediately.
weasel
I’ve been having a blast and have already connected with a lot of jackals. Been trying to add to the conversation with bird pictures, tagged with #BackyardBirding, and music posts about songs I enjoy/am listening to at the moment, tagged with #MusicalOfferings. However, I’ve found I’ve gotten the most engagement with quote posts of political matters, often ones by front pagers from here :)
I’m @satanley.bsky.social there (the first ‘a’ is silent :)
Some small gripes. Coming from Mastodon, I find the character limit a bit restrictive and lack of alt-text on many images annoying.
Omnes Omnibus
@Montanareddog: I don’t use the block lists nor do I wholesale follow starter packs. I am a smol enough bean that I look at the account and a few posts from it before I block. Everyone can have a bad day or lose their temper. Obvious Nazis, TERFs, etc. excepted.
Rose Judson
@Central Planning: Not me, but Mousebumples. Here’s the starter pack! There may be others.
randy khan
Facebook lately has been serving up a bunch of posts from, well, I don’t quite know what they are, but let’s call them groups that look like they’re related to my interests but that I’ve also never heard of before. The posts all are nicely designed with good copy, but in truth I get plenty of art and architecture from people and groups I already know, and these new intruders seem to take up a huge chunk of my feed. It’s kind of strange how they appeared so suddenly, and I’m spending a fair amount of time hitting the “less like this” button, but so far to no effect.
Baud
@Omnes Omnibus: Same. Haven’t had the need to use a block list. I’ve unfollowed a couple of people.
Kirk
I’m curious, is it employees and volunteers, or is it employees, contractors, and volunteers?
There’s a bit of longstanding resentment in the industry beginning to peek out from the industry. Software engineers become employees. QA is usually contract. Moderators are usually contract if they’re not volunteers. It’s a class thing due to not only wages but access benefits and social niceties being tied to the tier.
Sister Golden Bear
@Montanareddog: If you’re not sure about using a particular block list, you can always select “mute” instead of “block,” which still allows you to see the muted accounts and unmute them as desired.
The trade-off is that muted accounts can still see your posts and/or follow you. I’m hoping that BlueSky will add the ability to simply remove a follower, a la what Twitter does, which would be useful in dealing with folks who set out to follow huge numbers of accounts in hopes of getting follow backs to boost the number people following their account. (It’s a clout farming technique from Twitter, which doesn’t actually work on BlueSky, but it’s still annoying.)
piratedan
it’s kind of weird… for reasons unknown, I am classified as a BlueSky elder…
some methods of madness…
I have no idea on why I have as many followers as I do, I’m not seeking any kind of public clout, I just vent politically, snark and share cool stuff that I have feeds for on my specific interests. Sometimes people follow back simply because I will engage in conversation. It’s like sitting at a bar, you see an ad, you say something snarky and your neighbors laugh and say thank you for the laugh… reverse is true as well.
you get what you put into it. There are some tools that allow you to block groups wholesale (but you have to trust the originator) and follow groups wholesale. Not everyone posts something every day.
If you DO post pics and videos, please avail yourself of using alt text, its considered a courtesy to document what your video/picture is of (snark is allowed here as well).
and if you feel the need, I am Piratedan7 and if you’re a jackal, I do follow back.
ArchTeryx
@piratedan: Honestly, the biggest problem I’ve had is remembering to put ALT text in my pics. That I can’t edit them to add the alt text post hoc is maddening, but no different than Xhitter in that.
Omnes Omnibus
Depending on who is doing the defining, it is either the first million users or anyone who joined during the invitation only time. I was somewhere around 122000. With the numbers signing up, I am closing in on the first 1%.
Baud
@ArchTeryx: There’s a setting in Blue Sky you can turn on where it reminds you to add alt text before you post.
TheOtherHank
I don’t post much here or on bsky, but I’m theotherhank.bsky.social over there.
With the news yesterday that some AI startup was bragging about how they had scraped something like a million skeets for use as a training set (which means that there are probably a bunch doing it that are smart enough not to talk about it), I’m thinking about writing a bot that posts random words strung together. Since LLM AI is really just fancy autocomplete, adding noise into anyone scraping to find out what words often follow other words would be good. And scrapers doing actual useful things (they do exist), should skip over the nonsense in my bot account
dexwood
[email protected]
Joined a few weeks ago and enjoy checking jackal activity. Like the Discover feature, too.
Omnes Omnibus
@ArchTeryx: You can set it so it requires ALT. I did that.
ArchTeryx
@Baud: @Omnes Omnibus: That’s VERY useful to know. Thank you, Baud, Omnes!
encephalopath
The only way Facebook is tolerable is forcing it into chronological mode and using an ad blocker. Otherwise it’s nothing but ads and AI generated trash.
There is no option for chronological mode anymore. You have to put in the URL directly:
https://www.facebook.com/?sk=h_chr
Chris
@dp:
I’ve never been on Twitter, but this is what’s made Facebook borderline unusuable. The feed these days is just jam-packed with right-wing bots and ads, and no matter how many times I delete and block an account, there’s always more, and oftentimes shoving the exact same meme at me that I just deleted.
Yeah, I’ll probably get on Bluesky at some point.
glc
That’s not how VC funding works. The only actual constraint is the status as a PBC and it’s a very weak constraint. If they implement “easy exit” and then leave it in place, the issue may be moot. But it would be odd if they did in fact leave it in place in the long run, since switching costs are the main driver of profitability.
Geo Wilcox
@FelonyGovt: be careful with block lists, bad operators are inserting good people onto them.
Kay
I’m enjoying lurking on Bluesky.
On another topic, what about MacKenzie Scott to back a small, high quality news org? She seems to invest in interesting things no other fancy people do. Unconventional. Maybe instead of one big we can get a few smaller – Propublica + 1 + 2 + 3 etc – real competition! a real media market! Imagine that.
Professor Bigfoot
@twbrandt: wait, what? There’s a Baloon Juice starter pack? <scurries over to Bluesky> THERE IS, THERE IS!!
Bulgakov
I spent much of 2023 shamelessly begging for a BS invite. Finally got one in Sept. 23. I enjoy it so much more than Twitter for many of the reasons listed above. On BS I’m @karmasdad.bsky.social. Same name on Twit. My nym here came long ago when I still fancied myself an upcoming Slavic scholar. Those days are long gone.
PST
I’ve made the switch and am very happy about it. Almost everyone I followed on X is there, including my daughter, who had (from my point of view) inexplicably fallen silent. I worry, though, about the economic viability of the enterprise. I don’t want to devote too much effort optimizing my Bluesky experience if it is going to fail. Mr. Mix, what gives you the moderate confidence that a membership program will do the trick? Do you have a back-of-the-envelop calculation? I’d pay to join
I’m @pst1953.bsky.social
slybrarian
I’ve been around Bluesky since earlier this year and agree that it’s much more pleasant, from both a technical and ease of use standpoint, and in the community. Maybe that latter will change but the tools make it a lot easier to block creeps and chuds. I’m @slybrarian.bsky.social
Kristine
@dc: Okay. Found brid.gy over on Mastodon and followed.
I did follow them on Bluesky a week or more ago but I searched on the linked handle (@[email protected]) on Mastodon and it didn’t show up.
I know they’ve been slammed with requests so maybe they haven’t gotten to me yet, but so far I’m not connecting.
Aziz, light!
Blocklists are handy for nuking dozens of MAGA trolls with one click, and there are many other blocklists. The growing problem is carelessness or malice by people creating blocklists who include users who aren’t representative of the people on the list and don’t deserve to be blocked. People also create lists to attack whatever group they don’t like or have some personal peeve about, such as NAFO (Ukraine backers who troll Putin supporters), a favorite group of mine. Some blocklists are the equivalent of phoning in a SWAT mission against your noisy neighbors. The advice that’s being given is to use due diligence in assessing who is publishing a blocklist and what their motives or biases may be.
The MAGA scum are cockroaches who are miserable over at Shitter without liberals to torment, so they will keep flooding into Bluesky. The other inevitable invaders are the crypto and AI scammers, medical quacks, christofascists, and much more such societal detritus.
Kristine
@randy khan:
I’m seeing the same, especially on the phone app. In one case, I was following the actual artist, and his posts got bumped in favor of accounts that did nothing but repackage his posts.
Kristine
@ArchTeryx: You can go into your Settings and click Accessibility and check “Require alt text before posting.”
Aaaand I see others already responded.
Aziz, light!
It’s a mystery to me why so many people are following me on Bluesky, as I do relatively little posting there, same as here. Does anyone have an explanation for this?
Kristine
@Aziz, light!: I think it’s mostly mass following of the BJ lists. There are A LOT of lurkers out there.
coin operated
@encephalopath:
If only that worked on the mobile app. FB has gotten to be as unfriendly as Twitter/X
dexwood
@dexwood:
Of course I did that wrong.
@dexwood.bsky.social
Geminid
@Kay: A wealthy Albermarle County, Virginia couple* are funding Virginia Mercury, a site covering.Vurginia news. These types of sites don’t seem require a lot of money. Another one, Cardinal News, has good coverage of Southside and Southwest Virginia and I don’t think they have wealthy backers.
* The couple are big Democratic donors at the state level. They made some news during the 2017 Governor’s race when one of them gave $100,000 to Ralph Northam and the other gave $100,000 to his opponent, Tom Perriello. “A House Divided” read one headline.
My friend Joan knows the woman. She doesn’t just write checks; she’s an attorney and prepares to help out on the legal front every election.
narya
I’ve clicked on blocklists to see who’s on them, and then chose the specific accounts I want to block.
MrPug
So, right below this post about using Bluesky is a post with a link to, of fucking course, Twitter. Please for the love of God just stop helping Musk and find a link to whatever you found at Twitter and provide the link to the underlying story. Jebus. What will it take already?
Nancy
I’m Nancy here and Nanzee on Bluesky. This is as creative as I get and still remember who I am. I like some of your exotic names but I know my limits.
Zzyzx
I’m zzyzx.bsky.social. Go figure.
My quick guide to building a robust feed is to find @faineg.bsky.social and @golikehellmachine.com . They both post a lot but have a lot of interesting people in their comments. Read replies and you might find new cool people.
Ken
As a Bluesky reader but not member, I’ve spotted two main differences from the Other Places:
Kristine
@encephalopath: Thanks for that!
Zzyzx
The funny thing is that the Phish/GDead/Jamband community pretty much moved overnight after the election.
I had been active there and managed to finally get to about 1000 followers around the time of the election. I now have close to 3k from the last few weeks.
montanareddog
@Geminid:
That would be divided over 2 Dem candidates in the primary, though, not a Dem and a Republican, correct?
dc
@Kristine:
It’s unfortunate that the bridge is not default and opt out. The more different platforms connect, the better for all.
I believe it’s an individual account doing the bridging.
AnonPhenom
Uncle Ebenezer posted a link to *clearsky* app showing stats on accounts being blocked on bluesky that looked interesting and useful.
As Xitter sinks the trolls will come-a-calling. Having a master list could prove useful.
Baud
@Geminid: I’m hoping we’ll see new investment in media to serve us in the next couple of years. Perhaps one side effect of the Bluesky craze is that people will see that there’s a potential untapped market here.
@mistermix.bsky.social
I put up this post and then went to the gym, but I want to thank everyone for staying on topic.
Also, I didn’t know they took a round of VC funding. Insert sad face here.
Betty
I see the problem with the Bluesky model is the phrase “moderately profitable”. Who wants that? Not our private equity, hedge fund dudes, for sure.
Aurona
Good for you all. I’m not going there because: Jack left when Russian money (starting at $15M) entered the chat and he didn’t like where the IPO was going. Also, another social media founder went there to test it out, and got called a n****r, and deleted his post, not returning again. So no Bot Sentinel to keep out the creeps is like X. I’m sticking with Spoutible; organically grown, no Russian $.
dc
@Aurona:
Is there a way for Spoutible and Mastodon accounts to follow each other?
Kayla Rudbek
@PST: I wonder if the funding model will be like Dreamwidth (I’ve been there since LiveJournal was bought by the Russians).
Starfish (she/her)
@Aurona: There are some stubborn folks on Mastodon, including some black folks who are not going to be run off by racist white trans folks.
They said that there is a group called BlackSky that has been involved in creating the tools for BlueSky, and those have made BlueSky more useful than all the other platforms.
Here is a blog post by the person who created BlackSky.
gimleteye
@Kay: 19th News has a pretty impressive donor list. There was a great PBS Independent Lens documentary on them earlier this year, which is how I discovered them. PBS has paywalled the doc, but here’s a link if anyone is a Passport member.
https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/documentaries/breaking-the-news/
Baud
@Starfish (she/her):
When I click on suggested feeds, BlackSky is one of the options. I haven’t subscribed to any feeds yet except Science, so I don’t know what it’s like.
Baud
I do know you can follow Threads on Mastodon and you can bridge Mastodon with Bluesky, but I don’t know if you have bridge Treads with Bluesky.
different-church-lady
Do I really have to explain this?
Yes, I have to explain this:
In time Bluesky will become just as shitty as all the others of its type.
Christ sake people, don’t put your eggs in another cement mixer.
Trollhattan
Kiddo’s WT Shermanesque exploration of the South continues over Thanksgiving break. Today she texts from Georgia “Just saw my first 100′ confederate flag.”
Baud
@different-church-lady: Possibly. I think the big test will be when businesses and mainstream news move over.
But so what? People are going to use something to connect.
a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)
@Geo Wilcox: I have found the block lists rahaeli.bsky.social has assembled to be reliable—she did Trust & Safety back in the day at Livejournal, and is one of the people behind Dreamwidth. She’s been advising the T&S people at Bluesky, and is pretty careful about the lists she sets up—and won’t advise a list unless she’s vetted it.
She has some good advice on steps to take when checking someone before you follow, and some information on scams that will make your hair stand on end. But check even hers—it’s good practice.
Don’t automatically followback, and check replies as well as posts—some very bad people have learned to keep their posts bland while their replies would frighten the things that live in cesspools.
I’m on the starter pack list, but if you didn’t follow that, I’m fidelioscabinet.bsky.social.
twbrandt
@different-church-lady: right now, I find it useful. When it ceases to become useful, I’ll leave, just like I left facebook some years ago and left twitter when Elon bought it.
Trollhattan
Hey everybody, just found our Johnny Unbeatable!
New York, not sending their best. (Okay, special dispensation for AOC.)
Geminid
@Baud: Social media provides a good means for news sites to propagate content. An example would be the Northwest Progressive Policy Institute and its site Cascadia Advocate. They cover political and other news about Washington state. They have their own website, but I access them through Twitter.
If there is a breaking story somewhere I’ll sometimes check out the Twitter accounts of local TV stations. They’re all on Twitter now, but I expect they’ll add BlueSky accounts before too long.
News aggregator Laura Rozen has introduced me to a lot of sound journalists from many different countries, as well as the news organizations they write for. Rozen is a good journalist in her own right, but for my purposes she’s a good aggregator and curator of other trustworthy journalists.
Rozen’s own long-form work can be found on her Diplomatic Substack. I found Rozen through Cheryl Rofer. I may not agree with everything Rofer says, but I trust her judgement in this area. Cheryl Rofer left Twitter for BlueSky, while Laura Rozen is on both.
Geminid
@montanareddog: Yes. Northam was the Democratic Lieutenant Governor, while Tom Perriello had been a Democratic Congressman for the 5th District. That includes Charlottesville and Albemarle County and runs south to the North Carolia line. Perriello was elected in the 2008 Obama wave and then lost his seat in 2010. He was a neighbor of the Smiths. A nice guy.
Geminid
@Trollhattan: New York hasn’t sent Cuomo yet. It’s a crowded field, and the new Ranked-choice voting system might not help Cuomo’s prospects.
But New Yorkers won’t be sending Cuomo anywhere else, so I’m not gonna kick if that’s who they pick. They’re the ones who’ll have to listen to the guy’s lugubrious voice. Gaah!
moonbat
Just popping in to say AGAIN that Spoutible.com has many more useful features than Bluesky currently does and is not run by VC greedheads. It too has been gaining membership since the election and the mass exodus from X but the media has been assiduously avoiding mentioning it as an X alternative.
Why? Maybe because it was founded by a black man or maybe because it has more tools than any other SM site I have been on to stop the abuse of it’s users or maybe because it was deliberately fostering an online space for democratic activism during this last election cycle.
As much as people on here have been pining for our own left wing media outlets, you’d think we’d find a way to support a social media networking site friendly to democratic values when it comes along.
UncleEbeneezer
I use block lists only as a starting point but look at the list of users and then decide individually since there are sometimes accounts that I don’t feel are block-worthy.
Captain C
As some of y’all may have figured out, I’m Zaphod Beatbox (subaquahead.bksy.social) on Bluesky. I don’t ever skeet (and probably never will); I just use it like I used to use the hellsite to find interesting follows.
espierce
@Doug R:
@espierce.bsky.social
Layer8Problem
@Geminid: Cuomo will come on interviews and put out commercials saying what a great job he did and that hard-boiled get-it-done New Yorkers can and will look past any previous unpleasantness to choose him for mayor.
My take on him is the same as my take on Morrissey: He’s a dick.
Geminid
@Layer8Problem: Then I reckon you won’t be ranking Cuomo second. That could be his problem generally, I think.
I’m just glad you guys are the ones working out the Ranked-choice voting bugs.
narya
@Baud: I also subscribed to BreadSky and BlackSky.
Trivia Man
Anecdote: I dont twit, face, tok, insta, or any other ENGAGEMENT DRIVEN online activity.*
But i like to see the links/ screenshots and occasionally click through briefly. But many of my friends are heavy users. I have been passing in the Bsky conversations from here… success! They have all made an account and even the heavy tweeters are migrating in earnest. Tgank y’all!
*present company excluded. BJ gets m endorsement.
Layer8Problem
@Geminid: “I’m just glad you guys are the ones working out the Ranked-choice voting bugs.”
That gets my most sincere sardonic “Har”. 🙂
PST
I’ve been followed now on Bluesky by two jackals, and it appears that all three of us are dogs. It’s high time to retire that silly old New Yorker cartoon. Everybody knows.
Gary K
I find that some of the people I follow on Bluesky post an awful lot, and my feed tends to be dominated by them. I like what they have to say but just would like to see less of it. Is there any way to see just part of what they post?
Baud
@moonbat: I’m a social media follower, not a leader. Can spoutible interact with other social media sites?
Kristine
@moonbat: I joined Spoutible early on and donated towards its development. I bailed after the data breach because I was sick of getting caught in them. They’ve repaired matters since but tbh the site never clicked for me. I hope it does well but I’m not ready to add anything else to the plate right now.
slybrarian
@a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio):
I’ll second the recommendation for rahaeli/Denise’s block lists, and I’m somewhat amused to see other Dreamwidth users popping up given how small and old-school it is.
As far as spoutible goes, all I know is that back when it started the founder was hurling abuse at any feeemales who dared question his brilliance even as he made easily avoidable mistakes, so I’m not inclined to go over there.
DFH
@Doug R:
I’m not a huge social media person and I guess you’d say I’m a lurker here based on my posting comments. I just really enjoy B-J and the people, and have for many years. So…
https://bsky.app/profile/boboconnor.bsky.social
I think it’s really neat to be in the migration away from Xitter, and the links and lists or whatever that people here have provided is cool. Onward.
Thedeadcanary
@Tarragon: thanks! Will check profiles and block.
Gretchen
I’ve used some of the starter packs. One was of virologists/epidemiologists that I found tremendously helpful in the early days of covid when everyone was trying to figure out what was going to happen, how to handle it, what is this disease? They were all hounded off Twitter ages ago, and here they are on Bluesky. Tellingly, Angela Rasmussen, Kristian Anderson, and others who had deep scientific takes on the origins of the virus were hounded off, and Nate Silver, secure in his ignorance, is still on Twitter spouting about how it’s obvious that covid was a lab accident because the lab was in Wuhan.
Gloria DryGarden
@randy khan: I notice it too. Annoying. Contributes to loneliness
Quicksand
I’m not much of a poster here or on social media, but I have definitely enjoyed browsing BlueSky more than I ever enjoyed Twitter.
Just start following a few people you know and like (from here and other blogs, or from the Bad Place), see who they quote-skeet, follow some of those people too, and before long you’ll have a decent collection of folks in your timeline.
Oh and don’t be afraid of using the MAGA blocklist. Keep an eye on it (to ensure it doesn’t veer off-mission as time moves forward), but it sure is great not having those feline turds, valley maga billionaire mgtow-bros and their bootlickers, vaccine jaq-ers, and other detritus in my feed!
Bonus: no Elon!
Noskilz
I suspect Musk’s recent act of vicious idiocy (naming Federal employees he wants to get rid of) is going to speed the exodus from Twitter.
While I’ve been seeing jokes about the strain the Bsky servers must be under these days, the site seems to be holding up much better than Twitter, which despite having millions of fewer users than it used to seems to be getting shakier and shakier. Getting an embed code these days seems to take multiple tries.
moonbat
@Baud: Yes, it can. You can set it up to share your posts across media platforms like BlueSky and Mastodon.
A comparison of Spoutible’s features to other SM sites
moonbat
@moonbat: The above list is a little bit out of date, (for instance you no longer need to be invited to join BlueSky and Bluesky has video capabilities now up to one minute) but it gives you some idea of how hard Bouzy has been working to make his site uniquely user friendly.
Kayla Rudbek
@slybrarian: yeah, the Spoutible founder managed to start beef with a bunch of romance writers, Courtney Milan included. Protip: don’t get on the wrong side of Courtney Milan. https://www.reddit.com/r/romancelandia/comments/117827w/spoutible_versus_romancelandia/
Doc H
I’ve been on Bluesky for a while and like it a lot – got out of the tweet/skeet habit when Leon Skum took over twitter, but I’m diving back in. Currently posting travel pix…
@drhypercube.bsky.social
profile link
Spc
@Another Scott: exactly – hyper user base growth will inevitably result in “mission” changes. How significant remains to be seen. However, even before Musk, Twitter was never a profit machine – paid media on these types of sites has never been highly effective. Twitter’s stock price was based on brand and the vague future hope of Google or Meta ads type revenue that never materialized.
otmar
I’m @otmar.bsky.social over there.
Just as here, mostly in lurk only mode.
steverinoCT
Late to the party, as usual. I’m @steverinoct.bsky.social . Since there isn’t a list from this post, I did the Ctrl-f thing and gathered all the nom de ciels and here they are. Is mousebumples maintaining a jackal list?
By the by, it is traditional (in the sense of, in the past few months) to list “Jackal” as one of your profile items. Scares away the proles.
@donaldwprice.bsky.social
@dredecopp.bsky.social
@archteryx.bsky.social
@arrieve.bsky.social
@ksmithsf.bsky.social
@centralplanning.bsky.social
@itsnotbread.bsky.social
@wsr3.bsky.social
@satanley.bsky.social
@theotherhank.bsky.social
@karmasdad.bsky.social
@pst1953.bsky.social
@slybrarian.bsky.social
@dexwood.bsky.social
@zyzx.bsky.social
@fidelioscabinet.bsky.social
@espierce.bsky.social
@boboconnor.bsky.social
@drhypercube.bsky.social
@otmar.bsky.social