Mastodawn

Rich Jul 5, 2023

Fuck Bluesky. https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4034584-ex-twitter-leader-jack-dorsey-endorses-rfk-jr-for-president/

Ex-Twitter leader Jack Dorsey endorses RFK Jr. for president

Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey appeared to endorse anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for the Democratic presidential nomination over the weekend. Dorsey retweeted a video of Kennedy saying he could beat former President Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who announced his bid for the White House on Twitter last month. Dorsey captioned…

The Hill

Boris Mann Jul 4, 2023

@cstross you may not care, but Jack Dorsey is not in charge of BlueSky. It erases the good efforts of Jay Graber and her team.

Some balanced background reading here in an article by @micahflee https://theintercept.com/2023/06/01/bluesky-owner-twitter-elon-musk/

The team is very much intent on building an open protocol

Is Bluesky Billionaire-Proof?

Questions and answers about the new social media network Bluesky that you don’t need an invite to see. First, Jack Dorsey is not an owner.

The Intercept

Charlie Stross Jul 4, 2023

@boris @micahflee Yeah, all that and bluesky monetize anything you upload by using it as input for their LLMs. Not to mention the advertising. And the fundamental original sin—another goddamn social media site owned by a corporation who can turn hostile or sell it on a whim.

In capitalism, if you're not paying for the product, you ARE the product.

Boris Mann Jul 4, 2023

@cstross @micahflee that is also not true.

They use HiveAI, a commercial service that does content labeling (which many services use).

The BlueSky ToS and their agreement with HiveAI does not allow for training.

In Micah’s article, you’ll see that BlueSky is a PBLLC, and the team themselves are working to design AT Protocol to protect against that company “going bad”

Charlie Stross Jul 4, 2023

@boris @micahflee Doesn't matter: it's still corporate ad-funded social media, which means it's monetizing the users sneakily. The real problem is the behavioural advertising industry, which is as intrinsically toxic and corrupting as CSAM and should be criminalized accordingly.

Boris Mann Jul 4, 2023

@cstross it’s not advertising funded. There is an initial grant for funding.

The Bluesky team (as the article says) might explore advertising or subscription but nothing settled or announced.

The software is all open source and when the federation features are released, anyone will be able to run a server of their own.

It’s similar to the ActivityPub model with different trade offs (which is why they made the AT Protocol - to explore an alternative version of federation)

Noam Jul 8, 2023

@cstross @boris @micahflee It is not (yet) ad-funded. They're trying to figure out sufficient non-ad monetization at the moment. Their first crack at it (probably insufficient) is to sell domains and set them up as usernames (since setting up domains as bluesky usernames is a little technically tough normally).

FWIW they're moving now towards opening up AT-protocol federation (somewhat slowly, but making tangible steps towards it) at which point they will not longer fully control the network. Many of the too-cool-for-school userbase doesn't really care but there's enough decentralization enthusiasts among them that there will certainly be alternative servers when that happens.

rhizome Jul 4, 2023

@boris
Could still be a loss-leader, but we'll see what happens after the first change of control.
@cstross @micahflee

Boris Mann Jul 4, 2023

@rhizome I’m not sure what you mean. Like if Jay sold a bunch of shares and/or ceded board control?

Mastodon gGmBH could also be sold, but since the software is open source for both it and Bluesky, it doesn’t directly impact federation.

For me, I’ll be experimenting with running my own ATProtocol PDS when federation comes out of sandbox mode.

Jef Poskanzer Jul 4, 2023

rabble Jul 4, 2023

@jef @cstross So don't use mastodon, nostr, bluesky, scuttlebutt... stick with the Meta family of apps. ;-D

64kb Jul 4, 2023

@cstross these guys, they just outdo themselves every time - I never see quite how far they will go.

Edd Jul 4, 2023

@cstross if 'being able to beat Trump and de Santis' is the bar, I'm expecting Dorsey to endorse a moldy ham sandwich for president next

Juxtin Spaceman Jul 4, 2023

@cstross this from the guy who said “Elon is the singular solution I trust” to run Twitter?

Seems like a poor judge of character.

Charlie Stross Jul 4, 2023

@postpunkjustin Well yes.

rhizome Jul 4, 2023

Japannewbie Jul 4, 2023

@cstross wait, is this guy running bluesky?

freeluna Jul 4, 2023

@cstross what a great way to self-cancel.

Medea Vanamonde🏳️‍⚧️ ♀Jul 5, 2023

@cstross as Zuck is the new Fuck, Zuck Bluesky, Zuck Jack and his two timing deal with Musk, Zuck it all to Bezos !

jimray Jul 8, 2023

@cstross it’s such a pickle. Do I try out the twitter replacement run by the company that facilitates genocide and right wing authoritarianism and is also full of influencer garbage, the one funded by the dangerously aloof libertarian nincompoop, or the one that’s slightly harder to onboard? Real headscratcher.