When I joined daily kos in 2011 it was the first internet site I had ever joined. Soon after joining here I joined Facebook and Twitter. Actually, it was to help somebody here that needed to boost their twitter following for their publisher. Even after joining it was not something I visited much. I had daily kos.
Over the years, as I built my list of follows, twitter did become more useful. It became my first stop when looking for important breaking weather, fire and other news. And of course, social media silliness that makes it all bearable.
When covering the Honda/Khanna race it became an important tool in my family’s activism. Even pulling in local followers; politicians, reporters, and activists.
I never had an issue with trolls, other than Ro and his team stalking my posts. I did have one gun troll from daily kos find me there, Frank Rose. He earned one of my only blocks. But I did not miss how other good people were trolled. When elon took over the nazis and right-wing assholes were emboldened.
That was when I went looking for something new …someplace with fewer assholes. Just couldn’t justify helping elon’s bottom line. I tried Mastodon …just too confusing. Then there was the twitter similar site that seemed a possibility. But found the ‘token for articles’ idea noble but annoying.
Then came Bluesky. I signed up to get an invite …nothing. Tried again …still nothing. Finally, somebody I followed on twitter posted about having a invite code. I hate asking for favors …but replied if nobody took him up on the offer by the next day I’d be happy to take it. He sent the code within minutes.
Being polite and thankful, I quickly followed him and everybody he followed. I also found some science people from twitter to follow. At the time there were no videos, gif’s or even active hashtags. It was very slow, I could scroll thru an entire day’s worth of posts in a few minutes.
Likely due to the kind gent that invited me to the site, I found my stream mostly filled pictures of hairy chests and beards. I politely ‘liked’ them all. Then then stumbled upon a group of early users that had some weird obsession with sexy Alf. I assumed it was site’s mascot …so I followed them too.
My time there for the last year and a half was spent chatting about long underwear (merino wool for the win) and bugs. Eventually started posting my own sunrise pix after we moved to our new home.
Even after they opened the site to the public it was only slightly busier. The first real burst of new users was a few months ago when twitter was banned in Brazil …I don’t speak Portuguese.
Then came the election. I think many stuck it out on twitter so they could mock elon when trump lost. We know how that went. It does seem that was the final straw for many and Bluesky has exploded with people seeking refuge from the emboldened assholes of twitter.
While Bluesky looks and feels like twitter in many ways, it is not the same as twitter or other social media sites. There are no algorithms pushing targeted posts …unless you join some of the many user created feeds. You can see just posts of those you follow in chronological order or check into a feed (algorithm) you follow, your choice. No manipulative algorthms.
Even Bluesky’s “discover” tab is a simple algorithm to create a stream of the current posts with the most interactions. It was designed to help new users find accounts to follow. But now any user can create a “starter pack” where you can find users to follow grouped by topic/issues/etc.. I even considered creating a “plumbers of Bluesky” …then realized there was just me.
Despite the mostly debunked concerns of an investigative reporter about funders, Jay Graber, the CEO of Bluesky is clear that she and her team are working to build an open source site that is “billionaire proof.” She understands someday Bluesky, the company itself could become the “adversary” and they want to give the user the tools to protect themselves. If Bluesky ever went bad, being open source somebody could take the code and create a new site with users able to just move their accounts and history over to the new site.
Bluesky has created very powerful moderation tools. Which some disgruntled trolls are claiming it is creating an echo chamber. Seriously, shut the fuck up, how many times do we need to argue that the earth is round, climate change is real? If you believe we should roundup millions of brown people for mass deportation …just fuck off and leave my sight. There is plenty of room for debate and discussion on real shit. Just look at this orange echo chamber, plenty of disagreement here ...even heated at times.
And here is the thing, if the trolls wanted to they could create Dickheadsky. Of course it would take away the only thing that gives their tiny dead hearts joy …harassing others. User, Rudy Fraser has actually created Blacksky for Black users tired of the trolls mentioned above. He even created their own set of moderation tools on top of what Bluesky offers. One tool is the ability of any Blacksky member to tag a post as trollish and the post and the user removed from Blacksky …goodbye bigoted asshole.
Anyway, I’ve gone on enough, join the site yourself. Start having fun on social media again. Use the site’s simple tools to create your own experience. And always use alt text if posting photos ...let’s keep the site inclusive.
Here are just a few accounts to follow:
Jay Graber, the CEO of Bluesky
Paul Frazee, a Bluesky developer. You can tag him in a post and he shows up to capture a bug for removal or provide helpful tips …of course that was before there were over 20 million users.
Joshua J Friedman, Excluding side pocket, one of the nicest guys on the internet. The unofficial mayor of Bluesky, welcoming and helpful.
Joe Katz, Early adopter, lots of good site insights, good politics.
Faine Greenwood, well… despite being the creator of the hunky Alf shit …a must follow.
some random pix from the last couple weeks…
bonus video…
