this post was submitted on 27 Aug 2025
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Bluesky Social 🦋

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Bluesky now platform of choice for science community (arstechnica.com)
submitted 1 day ago by airportline@lemmy.zip to c/Bluesky@lemmy.zip
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[–] DupaCycki@lemmy.world 5 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

Ah yes, let's take absolute control over online discourse from one private, for-profit organization and give it to another. That'll fix everything!

While Bluesky seems [mostly] fine right now, it's not a long term solution. We need public online spaces that aren't owned or governed by any single entity. Or more appropriately - we need to improve the ones we already have and do whatever we can to bring people here.

Also, Bluesky has terrible algorithms and gives almost no control over your main page. I kept seeing exclusively political content from one specific side in my country (including some very obvious bots). Pressing 'Show less like this' on a few dozen posts every day produced no results over a few weeks. This ultimately led me to delete my account, as it made no sense to browse a platform that is actively showing me only the things that I don't want to see.

[–] airportline@lemmy.zip 2 points 20 hours ago

Wafrn is an app that natively federates with Bluesky. It uses it's own PDS and Appview, and relies on Blacksky's Relay (which is operated independantly, not by Bluesky PBLLC). Wafrn also supports ActivityPub and federates with Mastodon instances without Bridging (as it's actually ActivityPub-first).

[–] reddig33@lemmy.world 29 points 1 day ago (5 children)

So why not Mastadon?

[–] br3d@lemmy.world 17 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Having tried it: choosing an instance is too confusing for a typical user (especially as a minor bit of research suggests there's a risk your instance could disappear at any moment) and there's a culture of policing content and style amongst users that's quite offputting

[–] WhiteHotaru@feddit.org 20 points 1 day ago

In Germany mastodon is a real choice for the science community. There are some bigger organizations and universities hosting their own instances. Even the German government runs its own instance and some ministries do their public relations over them. For example @dlr@social.bund.de is the German NASA pendant. https://wisskomm.social/about is a dedicated instance for German science institutions.

[–] natecox@programming.dev 12 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I don’t think we really acknowledge how off putting the signup process is.

You need to choose a server. You do this by:

  • searching for a server focused on a topic you like
  • checking the community rules to make sure it’s that right balance between anarchy and authoritarian
  • checking the posts to make sure it’s not nazi infested
  • checking the block lists to make sure it’s not overly restrictive, but does block the nazi shit

I recently moved to a new mastodon server and honestly I had like decision paralysis for a week trying to find one that was a decent compromise.

[–] can@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 day ago

The people we're discussing wouldn't even know to think to check for those things in the first place, would they?

Does the average person know to be suspicious of nazis in an online community? Or read the rules? I think if they know enough to check the blocklist they will either be into it and want to investigate or be turned off entirely.

It might honestly boil down to the average person not wanting to read something.

[–] reddig33@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I’d think the science community would be smart enough to understand Mastadon, and that the science journals and universities would be running their own instances.

[–] natecox@programming.dev 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It’s not really a matter of “smart enough” though. It’s a matter of UX design. Introducing friction into signup is like the best way to block adoption of a service.

[–] webghost0101@sopuli.xyz 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

I believe the issue is purely perspective.

People are still thinking of it as a platform they need to sign up on.

Its much more a network of independent platforms and the initial friction is that independent institutions should run their own instance (most already have their own website, its not much different)

From that point the user does have an easy signup. The server is the institution they are part off and it wont disappear unless they themselves pull the plug.

If everyone is just going to join a few popular stable instances we centralize back into the current internet where a few players dominate digital space and everyone including government has to rely on those entities.

[–] can@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I think you nailed it. Communicating this concept is the biggest friction point. Barring edge cases, if someone tells you they're on Bluesky you know exactly where to find them.

We understand the perhaps inevitable downside to that but most people don't have the time or will to think of it.

[–] can@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 day ago

(especially as a minor bit of research suggests there's a risk your instance could disappear at any moment)

I understand why this would be more important on a microblogging service but I thought Mastodon already had am account migration feature?

[–] mateofeo85@lemmy.world 13 points 1 day ago (3 children)

I really want Mastodon to succeed, but it’s a ghost town.

[–] compostgoblin@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 12 hours ago

Really? My feed is constantly full

[–] Flagstaff@programming.dev 11 points 1 day ago (1 children)

"Be the change you want to see in the world." - Gandhi

It's the same with how we got Lemmy more active over the years...

[–] mateofeo85@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

I still use it, but there’s just more people I like to follow on BS.

[–] ThorrJo@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 1 day ago

lmfao

no, it isn't. not by a long shot. my feeds are bumpin' every day.

yes, you have to poke around to find people to follow so your chronological feed is populated. in that way it is like mid 2000s social media (read: thefacebook) before Zucc implemented the algorithm to shovel slop to the pigs.

[–] the_q@lemmy.zip 5 points 1 day ago

Because social media isn't about community it's about showing off and showing out.

[–] DarkCloud@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Marketing.

Twitter's blue bird interacts better with a bluesky... So having that tie-in made people go to one rather than the other.

Mastodon? Mastadon doesn't say anything to market the attitude, or even what the product is.

Twitter did, because it was like, short bird-like communications. That made sense. Bluesky was reactionary marketing at the right time/place to convert negative sentiment about Elon Musk.

You take your blue bird to the blue sky, and leave Twitter.

....Mastadon? Pretty sure they were a band in the 2000s. Other than that and the Wooly Mammoth, it doesn't have much of an association with anything relevant. Calling it Beugle, or Smoke Signals, or Flight, or something more relevant would probably have caught more attention.

[–] apftwb@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

This seems like a reoccurring theme with open source projects unfortunately. Its a rut I don't know how we break out from.

[–] can@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Have you tried using both?

[–] reddig33@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Yes.

[–] can@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Now imagine your average person doing that.

[–] reddig33@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It wasn’t hard. I opened the Mastadon app on iOS and followed the on screen prompts.

[–] can@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

You've never had to set up an app for someone?

[–] 0_o7@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 23 hours ago

The thread is about "science" community tho. They're more likely to deal with new stuff and figure it out quickly.

It must be a network effect rather than having to "pick an instance".

[–] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Twitter-like social media wasn't really my style. Took me a couple years to sign up for Mastodon from when I first encountered it. Then another year to really find a small server I liked. But I really love it. What I love most is that it never expects me to check it frequently.

[–] can@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 day ago

I want to like it but I guess I haven't put the energy into it.

But I never liked twitter either.

I actually enjoy Bluesky more than either of them but still haven't opened it in at least a month or two.

[–] can@sh.itjust.works -1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Never mind, I browse all and didn't realize the community I was in.

Sorry for bringing this negativity to your space.

~~I hope they learn their lesson in 5-10 years.~~

[–] airportline@lemmy.zip 2 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

lmao

[–] can@sh.itjust.works 1 points 6 hours ago

🤷‍♂️