Super disappointed that this was left undisclosed: https://bsky.social/about/blog/03-19-2026-series-b
I don’t see how you can build a VC-supported free product without slipping into the Torment Nexus which is to say AdTech.
I do believe the Bluesky people really do want to try to do this. But I still don’t see how.
@timbray I am shocked, shocked to learn that the not-actually-federated, locked-in social network started by a bunch of cryptocurrency people is all in on cryptocurrency, VC and ads.
I cannot comprehend why you keep giving them the benefit of the doubt. They have told you who they are, repeatedly.
@jwz Yeah, I met a few of them and talked to them and their hearts did seem in the right place. But VCs don't care where your heart is.
FWIW I don't think you're correct that they're crypto heads. Jay had been deep in the Eth mines and seemed to see this as an escape from that world.
Authenticated Transfer (AT) is a collection of protocol components that together provide a generic framework for interoperable social web applications, using global aggregations of interlinked, self-certifying data records. This informational document provides an overview of the entire system, as implemented in late 2025. Some of those components may be in scope as work for the IETF, while other components may not. Many components are general-purpose and may find use outside of the context of AT. The intent of this document is to provide context for how all the components can fit together for certain use cases.
@luxifer @timbray The purpose of a thing is what it does. It is not open, and they've been leading you along with "maybe someday real soon now" for years. It will never be open.
The crypto bro in question is Jack Dorsey, Blockchain Rasputin, the OG Twitter Nazi, and he may not be on the board any more but he still owns $13M of the company.
His involvement at any stage of any project, past or present, is immediately disqualifying.
It has been obvious to anyone paying attention that the reason Dorsey founded and funded Bluesky was with the end goal of enabling Twitter to go [Spider-Man Pointing dot GIF] any time an actual Nazi showed up, because moderation was not their problem, they just outsourced it to a series of nested shell companies (that they fund) who act as reputation laundries and liability crumple zones. Now
Azhdarchid: So, if you're online poisoned like me, you may have noticed that Bluesky CEO Jay Graber has been having sort of a slow motion, low-key public meltdown for the past several weeks. [...] For the record: I think Jay Graber is a transphobe; I think there's just too much evidence in her behavior to not read that into her actions at this point. No normal person would go out of their way
@jwz @timbray I think you misunderstood me. I care about open protocol and the fact that IETF opened a working group to standardized ATProto is a good thing. I love activity pub and that's also why I'm here (on my own pleroma instance). But the place, no matter where instance I go, looks more and more like an elitist place where you cannot have an opened debate. I'm sad about it.
To be clear I'm not glorifying bsky, but the direction it goes is nice
Tim Bray
Ewout ter Haar
jwz
@gurupanguji
johan
Florent Viel 🦫
𝔏𝔬𝔯𝔡 𝔚𝔥𝔬𝔯𝔣𝔦𝔫
Josh
tyil