324
For Bluer Skies: Bluesky as a Viable Alternative to X
(statecraft.beehiiv.com)
I have a really hard time seeing a difference between X and Bluesky. Both are run by billionaires for their amusement and benefit. Why are people so hopeful about bluesky?
Dorsey is no longer involved with Bluesky.
Oh, really? OK, that makes it definatelly less terrible. I guess I need to update myself about the organization behind it then. Thanks for the correction!
They got funding from Twitter and Jack was on the board for a bit, but he bailed and formally quit (funny enough he bailed because they did more moderation than he wanted)
He's not involved with Twitter either. That doesn't make it not terrible.
Having used it for several days now, I can tell you the difference is that Bluesky is a lot like Lemmy - not filled with hate and vitriol, and easy to make it what you want by selecting your feeds and following things you care about while pruning the rest.
The people who can't socialize properly with others are swiftly dealt with. Subscription blocklists make it really easy to just annihilate any possible interaction between yourself and undesirables. I have several blocklist subscriptions for MAGA chuds and White Supremacists for example. And when you block someone on Bluesky they can't see what you write and you'll never see anything from them ever again. Zero interaction from that point on. So the housekeeping actions actually keep the house clean.
Once you've done the initial housekeeping, it's just full of people talking about cool stuff, and when someone crashes the party to be nasty they are quickly shown the door. It's wonderful.
Also trying out Bluesky, and it is a lot like Twitter used to be, but it has the potential to turn out like Xitter is today, because at the end of the day Bluesky is a for-profit startup corporation.
Sooner or later, Bluesky is going to want to make money for its shareholders, and that means any of: 1) Selling advertisements, 2) Selling your personal data, and/or 3) In a classic tech startup play, selling itself to the highest bidder like: Android, YouTube, and yes, Twitter.
And with commercialization, or in Xitter's case a fool with too much money, comes enshittification.
Lemmy is nothing like a for-profit startup company, as far as I know, but that doesn't make it enshittification-proof, but at least it won't take the commercialization route.
I was talking about the atmosphere, not the architecture.
It's the best thing out there of its type right now. I'm not going to shit on it because of what might happen in the future. I'm sure something else will come along to move to if that happens.
Sounds like Mastodon.
It's not the unusable firehose that mastodon is, and it's a lot less fediverse-stanny. (it's not actually federated yet).
I kind of like it, it feels like the right level of engagement, and there's a culture of just block the assholes, grownups are talking.
It's worth a few days to try it out. Nice place.
The problem is not that they are billionaires. But one is run by an obvious malignant narcissist, and the other is not.
One is responsible the other is not.
Here's a very down to earth explanation of why Twitter after Musk became an ethical problem.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8zfgIgZ4c0
It's run by a millionaire, not a billionaire. People like it because it's Twitter without Musk. That's it.
load more comments
(4 replies)
So tired of hearing about this platform that, afaiu, is barely even federated and not really decentralized. Why the hype when fedi exists?
Because people are using it
A very vocal minority is using it, and only because Musk changed the moderation rules on X. Otherwise Twitter was as shit as it has ever been
fediverse is great but it's not for the general public, sadly.
this is the only argument repeated and no one ever comes up with exactly how it's not for the general public, only that it isn't.
and don't say algorithms. the general public constantly laments about how algorithms have ruined everything.
There are a lot of reasons why. Mastodon apps are not pretty. The logo is not attractive. The signup where you need to pick the server for some reason is confusing. The reputation Mastodon already has among the general public, that it's the place for Linux enthusiasts, is not doing it any more favors.
You say that the algorithms have ruined everything but it's just not true. Discoverability is dead on Mastodon. The platform doesn't suggest me any new people to follow. The vocal minority against the recommendation algorithms is just that, a vocal minority. Recommendations are useful if they are not obtrusive.
I've been trying to keep my Mastodon account active for two years and I've been posting some random shit the same way I did on Twitter. I've been looking for some fun idiots but there are none, it's all uptight serious people who are honestly pretty insufferable to read. I deleted my Mastodon account half a year ago and the one thing I appreciate is how easy it was — just a couple of clicks and you're done.
And most importantly - there isn't millions of dollars spent to market it to people. You have to go out of your way to learn about Mastodon or federation in general, and as you say, their reputations precede them.
load more comments
(1 replies)
In almost every thread where this has come up, people have gone into extensive detail about why.
There are a number of you either missing or ignoring it. Which I guess is why the comment sections for these articles are always almost exactly the same.
load more comments
(3 replies)
load more comments
(6 replies)
Because there's VC money behind it.
load more comments
(2 replies)
The collapse of X should've been the movement to get rid of social media, not replace it with another identical platform
Platforms like Twitter are incredibly useful for following public figures and journalists, your feed doesn’t have to be all brainrot. Having a similar platform that’s not in the hands of a billionaire freak is in the public interest.
But it is all brain rot since they changed their algorithm and started feeding me what posts they want to feed and showing me people Idon’t follow
load more comments
(1 replies)
RSS rests in peace
load more comments
(1 replies)
Mom said tomorrow is my turn to post the Bluesky article.
Oh, gee, there's this thing called Bluesky that's an alternative to Xitter?
Never seen anything about it ever posted here and in every other community before, thanks for letting us know!
Black Death as a Viable Alternative for Cholera.
I'm liking bluesky a lot, seems like they rolled back most of twitters toxicity. I'm seeing a lot of communities jump over and I'm all for it, we need more options on social media.
Yeah, the constant negative circlejerking on Lemmy is getting pretty tiresome.
More competition is better.
Despite the predictable dumpster fire of a comment section sharing this would inevitably lead too, I’m glad you shared it, it was a pleasant read.
Pages that don't work well with darkreader aren't many, but when they do fail they fail somewhat entertainingly:
I'm getting Google+ vibes.
Ah yes, always good to retreat to a safespace of open, and honest dialogue. Sadly, liberals can't stand not forcing their opinion on people so this will be shortlived.
Does it hurt when you need to stop talking enough to listen, or does the listening part never happen for you?
load more comments
(2 replies)
view more: next ›
this post was submitted on 24 Nov 2024
324 points (100.0% liked)
Technology
63134 readers
3140 users here now
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Our Rules
- Follow the lemmy.world rules.
- Only tech related content.
- Be excellent to each other!
- Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
- Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
- Politics threads may be removed.
- No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
- Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
- Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
- Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.
Approved Bots
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS