Centralized Social Media Eventually Immolates

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The thing about centralized social media, and this is in direct reference of Bluesky, both because that’s what it is, and because I’d like to spite the devs, is that all centralized social media eventually turns to garbage. And the same is true for the social media app that calls itself “decentralized” while not being decentralized whatsoever.

Giving users keys they can host on a VPS that open up a connection to your server farm is not what decentralization is.

But anyway …

Over the past week, Bluesky has managed to utterly destroy user trust in a period of time that’s even faster than Mozilla’s destruction of trust. A week ago, people were praising Bluesky as a safe alternative to Twitter that won’t host or embolden neo nazis. Now, bsky has become a haven for Jesse Singal, a dangerous troll who has lawyers.

Lawyers who are apparently requesting private information of users from Bluesky, and are being obliged???

This is what we call a Guinness Book of World Records attempt at enshitification.

I tried to find the official stance on all this, though, but it seems sources directly from Bluesky devs / moderators have either been deleted, or hidden. So, a lot of this probably sounds like hearsay, and the only thing I can really show is this post from hexbear.

But, if this is true even in the slightest, you should leave Bluesky, immediately.

You should leave Bluesky, and just … find a decent Mastodon instance. Which isn’t hard. I’ve written so many little guides on how to determine if an instance is good or bad, and I really have to reiterate, that while ActivityPub has its issues, it definitely doesn’t have a problem with moderation (as long as you don’t join a lawless instance, and I have to repeat, do not do that). Largely, because moderation issues are in the hands of the users, entirely.

I own my own server, I host and run it myself, and I completely ban anything I want!

No waiting for a trust and safety team to tell me all the reasons why they can’t do anything. Just one click of a button, and the shit’s gone, bro.

We do not currently take action on accounts that share Bluesky screenshots with commentary, unless that commentary violates our Guidelines. We will take action when someone's private information is shared without their consent, but only when it is personally identifiable and verifiable in-app.

— Bluesky Safety (@safety.bsky.app) December 13, 2024 at 12:53 PM

And that’s how all instances technically work!

Now, I know not everyone in the world reads this blog, so these things I keep saying for sure aren’t reaching masses of people. But I post these things so that maybe they’ll be found in the future when people are looking for answers, or alternatives.

And I realize that some may return to Twitter, some may jump over to Threads, or return to Threads, and ActivityPub may experience another influx.

But if you were thinking, “Huh, Bluesky? Must be too good to be true.” Well, it is.