Anyone on BlueSky?

[d000hg]

I stopped going on TwiXer a while back and saw all the discussion about BlueSky, figured people here are probably all over such things - thoughts?

I do love Bluey but that's the Australian childrens' animation.

[NickFitz]

It's quite like the atmosphere on Twitter ten or more years ago at the moment

Things are in a bit of flux as the trolls and scammers realise the grip they've had over Twitter won't do them much good once they're the only ones left there, and try to move over. But Bluesky has really powerful blocking mechanisms for individual users, and it also has a strong community of people who left Twitter a while ago and have established social norms around blocking and removing nuisances. This is backed up by the product development team actively adding features to support community moderation based on changing needs, and a competent Trust & Safety (T&S) team actively moderating the platform who are coping well with the massive influx of new users over the past few days.

So like any of these things, it's starting well and everybody's invested in keeping it that way, but there'll still be arseholes trying to muscle their way in. I got a "like" the other day from a user who was clearly affiliated with kiwifarms, who have been trying to work out how to subvert the moderation system to promote an anti-trans agenda as their initial foray into ******* things up for everyone. So I blocked them, and if I knew more about how it all works (I signed up ages ago but only became active this week) then I'd be able to ensure they got blocked at a higher level; but with a standard block, they can't see me, I can't see them, and nobody else will ever see any evidence that they interacted with my account. And I believe T&S have already made major progress in clearing the kiwifarms mob off the platform with extreme prejudice

If you decide to give it a go, then have a look around for "Starter Packs" which are lists of accounts in every field you can think of, from which you can pick and choose a set of initial follows. Interested in game dev? There's a starter pack for that. Political journalism in Australia? One for that. Museums? One for that. And many of the old school Twitter people who've moved over there have the same handle so are easy to find (and some good people who left Twitter years ago are there too). Also, once you've found a few people to follow, there's a custom feed showing people they follow which you can use to expand your horizons.

BTW, it's just ticked up to 21 million users as I've been writing this

So I'd say give it a go. It may not last forever, but it's really good for now

[cojak]

I'm on it and like it a lot, I'm still a little naïve when it comes to identifying bots, but I have a label on that alerts me to AI content and that helps.

NickFitz Clearsky allows you to view those that you've blocked. I use it to check for false positives in my block lists, but I haven't come across any so far.

[NickFitz]

NickFitz Clearsky allows you to view those that you've blocked. I use it to check for false positives in my block lists, but I haven't come across any so far.

Cheers, I'll check it out - though the only account I've blocked so far is the one I mentioned, and they've probably been booted off by T&S anyway

[cojak]

Try it on yourself - I've been blocked by people I don't like so they've saved me the trouble!

[courtg9000]

i'm there, its ok.

[d000hg]

One of the things I found Twitter most useful for was disrupting normal customer service, you'd often get direct response from businesses.

Are they using BS as well (I know there's been a ot of high profile eXits from Elon's platform of late)? Not what Twitter was really for but it was nice.

Thanks Nick and CJ

[NickFitz]

Try it on yourself - I've been blocked by people I don't like so they've saved me the trouble!

Ah, I remember now - I tried it the other day. Somebody I've never heard blocked me months ago, when I hadn't even posted anything!

[NickFitz]

One of the things I found Twitter most useful for was disrupting normal customer service, you'd often get direct response from businesses.

Are they using BS as well (I know there's been a ot of high profile eXits from Elon's platform of late)? Not what Twitter was really for but it was nice.

Thanks Nick and CJ

Yes, the customer service stuff is handy. I think a lot of businesses are still stuck on Twitter, but I'd expect them to start making the move if Bluesky continues growing

[Snooky]

Yes. I deleted my Xitter account very soon after Elon Musk made his real intentions clear. I'm on Threads and Bluesky, they seem generally a lot more civilised - but give it time