“I have no idea how all these MeFites got wedged into Bluesky, or why"

November 15, 2024 5:28 PM

Guardian: 'Bluesky adds 700,000 new members as users flee X after the US election.' Bluesky no longer needs an invite code to join. A directory of starter packs (of users), a directory of feeds, and some other tools and clients. Also, @madamjujujive.bsky.social‬ maintains a list of some MeFites, including a librarian in Vermont. Post title by @jeffleyser.com‬.
posted by Wordshore to MetaFilter-Related at 5:28 PM (86 comments total)

Decentralized is the only Social Media I do these days. Sorry.
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 5:48 PM on November 15 [2 favorites]

O hi, I was wondering what was up with all the new followers. I’m pretty well still primarily on Mastodon, but it’s nice to see some familiar faces again! I suppose I should add Bluesky to my profile here. Glad that anything in the world besides Twitter is gaining some traction.
posted by Devils Rancher at 7:09 PM on November 15 [3 favorites]

There are pages upon pages of search results that tell me Bluesky *is* decentralized.

Here's one I found via Kottke : Bluesky is ready to open up

And here's a previously which mentions decentralization a few times.
posted by kimberussell at 7:12 PM on November 15 [1 favorite]

There are pages upon pages of search results that tell me Bluesky *is* decentralized.

From what I understand, the architecture is hypothetically decentralized but the infrastructure as it exists and is being used is like 99.99% not.
posted by juv3nal at 8:04 PM on November 15 [5 favorites]

I made a starter pack of MeFites a couple of days ago. I’ll keep adding MeFites who want to be in it as long as there’s room (the limit is 150) and will make another starter pack if there’s a need.
posted by Kattullus at 11:37 PM on November 15 [13 favorites]

BlueSky is not decentralised.
posted by Pyrogenesis at 2:47 AM on November 16 [3 favorites]

The starter pack of MeFites is now up to 150. I’ll make a second one as soon as I can sit down.

Also, funny name ideas appreciated. Sadly, the best I’ve got so far is MetaFilter 2: Blue, Blue, Electric Blue.
posted by Kattullus at 4:59 AM on November 16 [5 favorites]

Decentralized is the only Social Media I do these days. Sorry.
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a

Eponysterical!
posted by grouse at 5:21 AM on November 16 [1 favorite]

Thanks to Katullus for doing the work! I am currently delighted to see a lot of you there, but I am equally delighted that the Blue Sky moderation tools are sublime. I have removed anything pertaining to Trump from my feed with a few clicks because I am done using social media to argue, to doomscroll, for the time being. I want pet photos, dumb jokes, arguments about which of the X-Men is likely to find Jesus, horny photos from the gay community, horror movie rankings, one panel comics from creators, etc. Really the only politics I am honed in is stuff that affects Ontario and Canada as this is where I live, country and province, and I hate Doug Ford with a thousand fiery burning suns.
posted by Kitteh at 6:19 AM on November 16 [9 favorites]

There are, suddenly, a lot of MeFites on Bluesky (and hello).

I had grandiose and pretentious dreams of carefully curating a major arc of high-level profound thoughts and introspection, but instead ended up relaying banal anecdotes about travelling on buses, and incidents with Morris dancers, around Worcestershire.
posted by Wordshore at 6:29 AM on November 16 [11 favorites]

So many of the people I know are rolling out Bluesky accounts I decided what the hell. Katallus and Madamjujujive,I hit you both up.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:29 AM on November 16 [6 favorites]

Wordshore, you have also been posting your fete adventures and delicious foods in cafes! I LOVE.
posted by Kitteh at 6:31 AM on November 16 [2 favorites]

Just starting over there and it's buffering like crazy for me. I'm chalking it up to the massive exodus of new users - I feel like Scotty is in the server room screaming "SHE CANNA TAKE ANY MORE, CAPTAIN!"
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:12 AM on November 16 [2 favorites]

Thanks for the title shout-out, Woodshore. Seemed like the obvious joke.....

Decentralized is the only Social Media I do these days. Sorry.

Honest question: why does that matter? BlueSky is Open Source, it's algorithm free, has fantastic group-moderator tools, and great blocking. Why make Decentralization the only criteria?
posted by Frayed Knot at 8:59 AM on November 16

Oh, hey, looks like there is a bug with adding our BlueSky handles here. Seems to be assuming all handles end in 'bsky.social', which is wrong. One of the nicer features is that you can use any domain as a handle, thus giving everyone the ability to validate themselves.

Messaged the mods on this.
posted by Frayed Knot at 9:06 AM on November 16 [3 favorites]

Honest question: why does that matter? BlueSky is Open Source, it's algorithm free, has fantastic group-moderator tools, and great blocking. Why make Decentralization the only criteria?

Fool me once.
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 9:17 AM on November 16 [2 favorites]

I’ve made the second starter pack. Let me know if you want to be in it, or want out, or if you know someone who wants in or out.
posted by Kattullus at 9:37 AM on November 16 [6 favorites]

(bsky feels so different the past few days with all the new people in it.)
posted by mittens at 10:24 AM on November 16 [7 favorites]

I just hope this rushing in sound isn’t followed by the rushing out sound, like Google +, Ello et al. Would be nice to see the old Twitter list reassemble and stay that way, but we shall see in 6 months if even 1/4 of y’all are still active users.

I had 650 followers on Mastodon but the majority of them hadn’t posted in over a year, so when I recently moved from Octodon (the first server Mefites really rushed in to in 2017) to beige.party, only 180 or so people came with me. Beige is a small but highly fun and supportive group. Also, it’s probably not a cult.
posted by Devils Rancher at 1:55 PM on November 16 [2 favorites]

Honest question: why does that matter?

Here's one reason.
posted by Pyrogenesis at 2:02 PM on November 16

As usual, I've just been minding my own business and making sandwiches.
posted by Stanczyk at 3:03 PM on November 16 [3 favorites]

Ahhhh I wondered why all these Mefites started to follow me on BlueSky! (@crowbar.wtf)
posted by gomichild at 3:57 PM on November 16 [1 favorite]

I joined yesterday under a different user name - @cronecypher.bsky.social - as ninazer0 is so old as to be a completely different person these days.

A lot of you have already found me, which is weirdly scary but also nice.
posted by ninazer0 at 4:01 PM on November 16 [1 favorite]

and great blocking

Uhhh...
posted by grumpybear69 at 4:27 PM on November 16 [1 favorite]

The idea of "starter packs" is pretty brilliant tbh
posted by gwint at 7:16 PM on November 16 [4 favorites]

I’ve been unable to add some Bluesky accounts. All the accounts also don’t show up in search, that’s the only clue I have. I have no idea why that is, but they’re not very active accounts. However, other not very active accounts are addable to starter packs. I’ve let the people know who I couldn’t add.
posted by Kattullus at 12:55 AM on November 17 [1 favorite]

I warn you, I have gone full bitchy crone, but I am there under my other guise: @devinsinger.bsky.social
posted by restless_nomad (retired) at 4:18 AM on November 17 [7 favorites]

Plenty of things that worked fine over at Bluesky two weeks ago are creaking a little bit right now, given the mass influx of new users...
posted by cupcakeninja at 4:51 AM on November 17 [1 favorite]

You been added, restless_nomad! If we can’t handle you at your croniest, we don’t deserve you at your corniest.
posted by Kattullus at 4:55 AM on November 17 [3 favorites]

I am there @negemma.bsky.social in case you see me following you and have no idea why!
posted by odd ghost at 5:15 AM on November 17 [2 favorites]

Mod note: The site's official plate of blue beans is at https://bsky.app/profile/metafilter.bsky.social
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 6:14 AM on November 17 [4 favorites]

I've added the blue beans to the second starter stew.
posted by Kattullus at 6:21 AM on November 17

Okay I’m in :) [e-mail] and I’m using the starter packs.
posted by warriorqueen at 7:44 AM on November 17 [1 favorite]

I'm there - leslie-eco-artist and happy to find so many other mefites there
posted by leslies at 7:51 AM on November 17

I'm also there, [e-mail].
posted by emelenjr at 8:13 AM on November 17 [1 favorite]

I warn you, I have gone full bitchy crone, but I am there under my other guise

Greetings from the other side, old friend. joshmillard.bsky.social.
posted by cortex (retired) at 9:10 AM on November 17 [2 favorites]

@mitycheese.bsky.social. You may detect a naming pattern.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 9:12 AM on November 17 [1 favorite]

Come visit me!

It's taken some effort to build up my following list so that I have the kind of newsfeed I had on Twitter, but I've pretty much done that now and it's already happened that I've found myself thinking I was reading Twitter when I was actually reading Bluesky.
posted by orange swan at 9:30 AM on November 17 [2 favorites]

I'm there as @dinrao.bsky.social, but my feed is mostly spiders and insects (work stuff)
posted by dhruva at 12:30 PM on November 17 [2 favorites]

I’ve added everyone all of you to the starter packs.
posted by Kattullus at 12:45 PM on November 17 [6 favorites]

Am I the only person who can't stop reading it as BSkyB and therefore keep expecting footie to randomly appear?
posted by aramaic at 5:43 PM on November 17 [2 favorites]

I've got @thegreatbigmulp.bsky.social and I have yet to contribute more than the profile images.
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 7:26 PM on November 17 [3 favorites]

So this happened. I’ve removed the fake account from the starter pack and added the correct Amy NM.
posted by Kattullus at 1:47 AM on November 18

Also, probably good to report the fake account so that it will be closed. I imagine the Bluesky moderation team is very overworked right now, but hopefully a slew of reports will get through.
posted by Kattullus at 1:57 AM on November 18 [1 favorite]

Why does it need to know our birthdate? Is it okay to pick a random number?
posted by mightshould at 3:06 AM on November 18

It has a 17+ rating on the App Store (like Twitter, for instance) so I imagine it’s so that kids don’t sign up, or at least have to lie about their age to get in.
posted by Kattullus at 5:39 AM on November 18 [2 favorites]

Yeah there are a variety of laws and regulations that require companies to know that their users are older than X age. (13 is because of COPPA, various app stores, etc.) I have a fake birthday that I use with the correct year for anyone that isn't running my credit info.
posted by restless_nomad (retired) at 5:57 AM on November 18 [2 favorites]

I will say that I love seeing all you MeFites on Blue Sky but I do not expect anyone to follow me back just for reasons. I suspect a lot of you will be posting heavily about Trump's Reign of Terror for the next four years (with good reason) and I have muted any words associated with him because I have opted to have a feel-good experience in these trying times. But nonetheless, I am glad you guys are there.
posted by Kitteh at 6:41 AM on November 18 [3 favorites]

I'm there, but I'm on kind of a break, social media-wise at the moment. I'll eventually return.
posted by tommasz at 6:49 AM on November 18

So what happened to Mastodon? I thought that's where all the Twitter/X flee-ers went?
posted by JanetLand at 7:07 AM on November 18

personally, i could never get the hang of mastodon.
posted by cooker girl at 7:19 AM on November 18 [3 favorites]

People prefer centralized, corporate owned social media, I guess.
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 12:01 PM on November 18 [1 favorite]

I mean, I tried to figure mastadon out and gave up out of frustration. Sorry for selling out.
posted by PussKillian at 12:15 PM on November 18 [7 favorites]

People prefer centralized, corporate owned social media, I guess.

I'd accept centralized state-owned social media.
posted by mittens at 12:16 PM on November 18 [5 favorites]

People prefer centralized, corporate owned social media, I guess.

This right here is why I will never try Mastodon seriously. It is the Purity Test I do not need in my fucking life. This has such a White Guy Vibe.
posted by Kitteh at 12:41 PM on November 18 [8 favorites]

personally, i could never get the hang of mastodon.

Neither could I, and geez, when I first tested those waters a year ago, users came across as kind of strict on how new users were expected to behave - more than the BlueSky approach basically being 'block often and don't be an asshole.'
posted by Atreides at 1:12 PM on November 18 [4 favorites]

So what happened to Mastodon? I thought that's where all the Twitter/X flee-ers went?

It's still around and kicking, still being Masto. Too futzy to become the New Big Thing, kicking along fine as a weird smaller space.

I'm dipping my toe in Bluesky with reservations for the sake of hangouts with a broader slice of the folks I miss from twitter, mostly; mastodon remains my primary social media account because its the least likely to lead to a nasty rugpull and corporate heartbreak in the long run. There can be more than one place, I reckon.
posted by cortex (retired) at 1:37 PM on November 18 [4 favorites]

I’m just glad I joined mastodon before I found out how hard it was.

Bluesky seems okay so far! I’ve been there over a year, (was surprised to note that- what a year, huh?) and it’s nice to see it perking up.
posted by Devils Rancher at 2:03 PM on November 18 [3 favorites]

Aha this explains why I suddenly have followers on Bluesky. Hello y'all. I prefer mastodon but I've had a Bluesky account too since August 2023, although I haven't posted much. Now I have two Bluesky accounts - this one @flisswave.bsky.social, which is apparently on one of these lists AND I created a bridgy one to copy my mastodon posts - @flisswave.mefi.social.ap.brid.gy - but I think you might need bridgy to access it. Or not. I have no idea.

I really didn't find Mastodon difficult to join and I'm not noted for my techy skillz? The only thing different than any other social media is you have to pick a server. Which is easy: there's a metafilter one: mefi.social . Talk to pronoiac, he'll set you up, she said (without consulting pronoiac.)
posted by mygothlaundry at 3:34 PM on November 18 [3 favorites]

I suspect a lot of you will be posting heavily about Trump's Reign of Terror...

I may like the occasional political post but mostly what you're going to be getting from me is random pictures of cats or food, vague mumbling, and evidence of whatever Australian wildlife has decided to invade my house.
posted by ninazer0 at 4:39 PM on November 18 [3 favorites]

Late to the party because I couldn't figure out how to enter my birth date on the phone app for like a week, finally dragged my ass out of my bed to sign up on the computer: @empressamian.bsky.social
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 6:20 PM on November 18

Aaaand I just realized I wasn't using the phone APP, I was trying to sign up on the website using my phone's browser. The birth date thingy on the actual app works fine 😄
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 6:29 PM on November 18

Oh god, it took me way too long to work out how to add my Bluesky account to my profile here. (What worked: my username, by itself.)

I'm much more on Mastodon, and as mygothlaundry noted, I can offer an account on mefi.social.

If you want to skim for contacts here, you can look through the Social Explorer to see who's added it to their profiles.


> Oh, hey, looks like there is a bug with adding our BlueSky handles here. Seems to be assuming all handles end in 'bsky.social', which is wrong.

Look at the "Bluesky (Custom URL)" service, though it looks like it's currently turning dots into %2E which *should* work, but isn't. I've emailed the mods about this.
posted by Pronoiac at 7:52 PM on November 18 [1 favorite]

So what happened to Mastodon? I thought that's where all the Twitter/X flee-ers went?

I'm still there. I'll spend more time on bluesky for now because that seems to be where more of my people are, but the fact that the last round of funding was from crypto firms isn't encouraging about its long term prognosis & it's why I'm not ditching the masto.
posted by juv3nal at 3:26 AM on November 19

So what happened to Mastodon? I thought that's where all the Twitter/X flee-ers went?

Lots of us are still on Mastodon. I have a BlueSky account but I don’t use it much. I’m mostly on Mastodon. The most important things to know about mastodon are: don’t worry about any feed except your home feed; and if you tap to be notified about someone’s posts, you can just use your notifications tab as a list.
posted by MexicanYenta at 4:15 AM on November 19 [1 favorite]

_shrug_
When Bluesky goes the way twitter did, Mastodon will still be there.
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 9:39 AM on November 19

Good of you to share that with us, person with such good online social skills they don't even have a readable username.
posted by ambrosen at 9:49 AM on November 19 [8 favorites]

Lol, right? What a brave toaster.
posted by Kitteh at 9:49 AM on November 19 [4 favorites]

I wound up with my username as one of my domains more or less by accident. There's been a bug causing some people to show as Invalid User Name. So I went in to fix it, and the screen to edit my username wanted me to add a TXT record? to my domain? And I was like, well, ok, I guess, I have this one that's basically one of my commonly used usernames with a .org after it so whatever. And thus I am karmakaze.org, which is fine except that it might inspire people go take a look at a dead website, because I just used that domain for throwaway email and never actually put anything on it. I am a social media superstar, my friends. Stand in awe at my amazing branding skills!
(And then I went and reserved the bluesky name for the url I keep my resume on, which I won't post much from because it has my real name in it, but better to lock it in just in case.)
posted by Karmakaze at 10:44 AM on November 19 [2 favorites]

I'm there as tzikeh (as I am anywhere else I have an account). Left Twitter a while back and should have jumped on to Bluesky sooner (only joined in January). Love it there.
posted by tzikeh at 1:08 PM on November 19 [1 favorite]

I'm joakimz.bsky.social if anyone wants to follow or add me to a starter pack or anything.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 1:44 PM on November 19 [3 favorites]

thanks to wordshore and kattullus. I like bluesky. I'm not posting anything political, unless it's history minut...minutia....stuff.

cool that others are but it's just not really for me....well I might if I see something. I guess what I like is a list of mefis curated in this thread from stater packs, I see a lot of names I haven't seen in a while and a lot of mefis, kind of feels like a second home for mefi folk. I do like mefi..social on mastadon. kind of use it as an Instagram and maybe chat with someone once in a while, I love it, Pronoiac is a great admin.
posted by clavdivs at 2:00 PM on November 19 [4 favorites]

I’ve added you, Joakim.
posted by Kattullus at 2:35 PM on November 19

So what happened to Mastodon? I thought that's where all the Twitter/X flee-ers went?

I'm both places and somewhat active in both. Will be glad when the firehose of new folks dies down a little because it's a lot.
posted by gentlyepigrams at 8:34 PM on November 19 [1 favorite]

I'm harrbeng.bsky.social, if anyone wants to add me.
posted by Bistle at 5:26 AM on November 20 [2 favorites]

Added!
posted by Kattullus at 7:40 AM on November 20

I added you too!
posted by madamjujujive at 6:21 AM on November 21 [1 favorite]

I am jacquilynne.bsky.social

I post a trivia question of the day most week days and other than that, really only reply to things about the PWHL.
posted by jacquilynne at 6:46 AM on November 21 [3 favorites]

just made the jump!

@supermedusa.bsky.social
posted by supermedusa at 11:29 AM on November 23 [1 favorite]

Added (both supermedua and jacquilynne)
posted by Kattullus at 1:32 PM on November 23

I’m around. @actionpopulated.bsky.social. So far mostly following the journalists and podcasters I missed from bird site, but maybe this will become my outlet for hot takes about health care.
posted by ActionPopulated at 7:27 PM on November 25 [2 favorites]

I'm @peacockgc.bsky.social Loving Bluesky while missing hashtags.
posted by beaning at 3:10 PM on November 30 [2 favorites]

I'm on there is anyone wants that for some reason: rodlymight
posted by rodlymight at 12:19 PM on December 1 [2 favorites]

...while missing hashtags.

Hashtags do work?
posted by Wordshore at 4:05 AM on December 2

True, hashtags can be used however I, as just one person using the site, miss the routine use of hashtags by posters that allowed me quickly pull out topics. I don't find a #hunterbiden, #TBT, #womensart, #mefi and my professional group is also not currently routinely using an identifying tag. I've seen a few posts lately on using lists to track specific groups of commentators without having to follow them and may move to that.
posted by beaning at 7:28 AM on December 2 [2 favorites]

Oh hi I am on Bluesky but don't post much. Occasionally about my dog or small victories.

I especially like the feeds feature, I enjoy being able to switch to a feed that is entirely potatoes or moo deng or whatever when the discourse is too much.
posted by the primroses were over at 3:26 PM on December 7 [1 favorite]