{"slug": "blacksky", "name": "Blacksky", "category": "networking", "category_name": "Networking and VPN", "description": "", "recommenders": 2, "commenters": 4, "warners": 0, "score": 2.365, "rising": -0.65, "first": "2026-01-19", "latest": "2026-07-23", "why": "Check out Blacksky, they're doing amazing work running a whole separate ATProto system", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 2, "neutral": 2, "compare": 0, "warn": 0}, "spark": [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0], "listed": false, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "Check out Blacksky, they're doing amazing work running a whole separate ATProto system", "icon": false, "domain": "blacksky.community", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://blacksky.community", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Blacksky"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 784505249, "item_id": 49031578, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49031578", "by": "danpalmer", "date": "2026-07-23", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Check out Blacksky, they're doing amazing work running a whole separate ATProto system", "excerpt": "I'm not going to do the protocol justice in an HN comment, but a core goal is to separate the entities that control the data, the entities that run the network, and the entities that control the interfaces (and recommendation algos etc). If your Mastodon admin goes rogue, you a) have to get your data out of their hands, and b) have to rebuild your Mastodon presence in a new location, all your connections, history, et", "context": "", "use_case": "ATProto network", "switched_from": "", "story": "I Regret Migrating to Codeberg"}, {"id": 777882352, "item_id": 48617647, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48617647", "by": "tao_oat", "date": "2026-06-21", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "many people switched to using another AppView like Blacksky and things worked just fine", "excerpt": "When Bluesky got DDoS'ed then, many people switched to using another AppView like Blacksky and things worked just fine. But this is indeed somewhat technical; in an ideal world clients would automatically fall back to alternative AppViews.", "context": "", "use_case": "alternative ATProto AppView", "switched_from": "Bluesky", "story": "There Are No Instances in ATProto"}]}], "caveats": [], "who": [], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["atproto network", "alternative atproto appview", "decentralizing atproto", "independent bluesky appview"], "compared": [{"slug": "bluesky", "name": "Bluesky", "co": 5, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49021856", "title": "I Regret Migrating to Codeberg", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48599515", "title": "There Are No Instances in ATProto", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47095597", "title": "Be Wary of Bluesky", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46665839", "title": "A Social Filesystem", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-02": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-07": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {}}, "quotes": [{"id": 784505249, "item_id": 49031578, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49031578", "by": "danpalmer", "date": "2026-07-23", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Check out Blacksky, they're doing amazing work running a whole separate ATProto system", "excerpt": "I'm not going to do the protocol justice in an HN comment, but a core goal is to separate the entities that control the data, the entities that run the network, and the entities that control the interfaces (and recommendation algos etc). If your Mastodon admin goes rogue, you a) have to get your data out of their hands, and b) have to rebuild your Mastodon presence in a new location, all your connections, history, et", "context": "", "use_case": "ATProto network", "switched_from": "", "story": "I Regret Migrating to Codeberg"}, {"id": 777882352, "item_id": 48617647, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48617647", "by": "tao_oat", "date": "2026-06-21", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "many people switched to using another AppView like Blacksky and things worked just fine", "excerpt": "When Bluesky got DDoS'ed then, many people switched to using another AppView like Blacksky and things worked just fine. But this is indeed somewhat technical; in an ideal world clients would automatically fall back to alternative AppViews.", "context": "", "use_case": "alternative ATProto AppView", "switched_from": "Bluesky", "story": "There Are No Instances in ATProto"}, {"id": 753757985, "item_id": 47109874, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47109874", "by": "southerntofu", "date": "2026-02-22", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "projects like Blacksky try to decentralize it", "excerpt": "> This is precisely why there are multiple protocols out there and bridges between them. Yes, that's great! What's not great is Bluesky attempting a hostile takeover on federated and decentralized social networks. It's been advertised from day 1 as an alternative to centralized silos and it's a lie. [0] To be fair, projects like Blacksky try to decentralize it (except the identity server, as it's impossible??), and t", "context": "", "use_case": "decentralizing ATProto", "switched_from": "", "story": "Be Wary of Bluesky"}, {"id": 746959296, "item_id": 46684956, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46684956", "by": "bccdee", "date": "2026-01-19", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "It isn't stable yet, but it works, and there are active users who are banned on bluesky", "excerpt": "If you run a separate appview, bluesky can't censor your interactions in any way, and you can seamlessly view posts from both bluesky users and users banned on bluesky. Of course, running an appview that indexes the whole world is expensive, and running an appview that doesn't index the whole world is less convenient than just using bluesky's appview, so the only people running an independent appview right now are bl", "context": "", "use_case": "independent Bluesky appview", "switched_from": "", "story": "A Social Filesystem"}]}