{"slug": "bluesky", "name": "Bluesky", "category": "networking", "category_name": "Networking and VPN", "description": "Decentralized microblogging social network built on the AT Protocol.", "recommenders": 14, "commenters": 40, "warners": 10, "score": 8.241, "rising": 4.71, "first": "2025-11-05", "latest": "2026-10-28", "why": "HN commenters like Bluesky as a Twitter alternative where many tech accounts have moved, for its custom feeds and control over the timeline, and for ATProto data portability and a good mobile web experience.", "why_is_quote": false, "has_verdict": true, "sentiment": {"recommend": 14, "neutral": 14, "compare": 2, "warn": 10}, "spark": [0, 0, 2, 2, 0, 0, 0, 1, 2, 4, 1, 2], "listed": true, "loved": ["Custom feeds", "Data portability"], "caveat": "Political toxicity", "short_quote": "On ATProto, you can self-host your data while still making use of Bluesky/etc, in a way that you can't do with Mastodon or even email.", "icon": true, "domain": "bsky.app", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://bsky.app", "pricing": "free", "aliases": ["Bluesky"], "verdict": [{"text": "HN commenters like Bluesky as a Twitter alternative where many tech accounts have moved,", "cites": [{"id": 778597808, "item_id": 48662363, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48662363", "by": "archagon", "date": "2026-06-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Practically every tech account I used to follow has migrated to Bluesky or Mastodon by now.", "excerpt": "I\u2019m thinking more of the \u201cDead Weight\u201d and \u201cTurbo Brains\u201d boxes as being particularly eye-rolling. As for tech discussion, of course there is an alternative. Practically every tech account I used to follow has migrated to Bluesky or Mastodon by now. The accounts left on Twitter have a distinctly narcissistic, preachy vibe. These people care more about influencing, not engaging.", "context": "", "use_case": "tech discussion", "switched_from": "Twitter", "story": "The Coming Loop"}, {"id": 796185648, "item_id": 49761603, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49761603", "by": "jamesforestwest", "date": "2026-09-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Bluesky is almost like Twitter", "excerpt": "Bluesky is almost like Twitter, many people also use Mastodon and RSS. I also heard about threads, but I don\u2019t like it, I can\u2019t recommend it.", "context": "", "use_case": "social media", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Alternatives to Twitter/X?"}, {"id": 753735840, "item_id": 47108490, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47108490", "by": "raincole", "date": "2026-02-21", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "BlueSky is a direct alternative to Twitter.", "excerpt": "> That's the same argument people made about Twitter. \"If it goes bad, we'll just leave.\" We know how that played out. I don't get it. What is this supposed to mean? Is the author implying people won't leave Twitter? If it's true then this whole article is pure waste of time: if people won't switch to BlueSky anyway then why should we be wary of it? BlueSky is a direct alternative to Twitter. The UI is a spitting ima", "context": "", "use_case": "Twitter alternative", "switched_from": "", "story": "Be Wary of Bluesky"}, {"id": 788342960, "item_id": 49271435, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49271435", "by": "exhumet", "date": "2026-08-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "the custom feeds are a great feature", "excerpt": "yeah im pretty fucking hard left wing, i would still have probably used twitter in this current day if it hadn't just become a total cesspool. i used bluesky because my friends moved there and tbh the custom feeds are a great feature. could not care about the owners political leanings as long as they are not being actively and outwardly malicious... pretty much most of my social media usage went down the hill when th", "context": "", "use_case": "social media", "switched_from": "Twitter", "story": "Bluesky's active user base is shrinking as its focus expands beyond the app"}]}, {"text": " for its custom feeds and control over the timeline,", "cites": [{"id": 788342960, "item_id": 49271435, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49271435", "by": "exhumet", "date": "2026-08-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "the custom feeds are a great feature", "excerpt": "yeah im pretty fucking hard left wing, i would still have probably used twitter in this current day if it hadn't just become a total cesspool. i used bluesky because my friends moved there and tbh the custom feeds are a great feature. could not care about the owners political leanings as long as they are not being actively and outwardly malicious... pretty much most of my social media usage went down the hill when th", "context": "", "use_case": "social media", "switched_from": "Twitter", "story": "Bluesky's active user base is shrinking as its focus expands beyond the app"}, {"id": 746482320, "item_id": 46655145, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46655145", "by": "dhosek", "date": "2026-01-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "This is one of the things that I like about BlueSky.", "excerpt": "This is one of the things that I like about BlueSky. The only algorithmic feed I use is one that highlights quiet posters (https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:vpkhqolt662uhesyj6nxm7ys/feed/infreq). I\u2019ll go to the main feed once in a while, but the \u201cdiscover\u201d feed is one I ended up unpinning entirely.", "context": "", "use_case": "social media with custom feeds", "switched_from": "", "story": "Slop Is Everywhere for Those with Eyes to See"}, {"id": 782578240, "item_id": 48911140, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48911140", "by": "tancop", "date": "2026-07-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "i switched from twitter to bluesky", "excerpt": "i switched from twitter to bluesky and the first thing i noticed was the feed looking really boring so i almost quit. turns out the default is following only but then i found a great third party feed at [foryou.club] and now i can use it without getting bored. thank god for spacecowboy and their gaming pc.", "context": "", "use_case": "social media", "switched_from": "Twitter", "story": "The great digital fatigue: How digital burnout is changing social media use"}, {"id": 788228704, "item_id": 49264294, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49264294", "by": "dragonwriter", "date": "2026-08-11", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "providing tighter control of what is in your feed", "excerpt": "The only way in which BlueSky is preferentially catering to the left is by existing as an alternative to X and specifically providing tighter control of what is in your feed; and this is only \u201ccatering to the Left\u201d because of the groups towards which X either has weakened or stopped enforcing its policies against harassment towards. (In a market with strong network externalities, being the dominant player is self rei", "context": "", "use_case": "social network", "switched_from": "", "story": "Bluesky's active user base is shrinking as its focus expands beyond the app"}]}, {"text": " and for ATProto data portability and a good mobile web experience.", "cites": [{"id": 784505248, "item_id": 49031578, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49031578", "by": "danpalmer", "date": "2026-07-23", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "On ATProto, you can self-host your data while still making use of Bluesky/etc, in a way that you can't do with Mastodon or even email.", "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": "social network", "switched_from": "", "story": "I Regret Migrating to Codeberg"}, {"id": 753534128, "item_id": 47095883, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47095883", "by": "AgentME", "date": "2026-02-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The fact that most people aren't doing that is a sign that people are happy with how Bluesky-the-company is running things.", "excerpt": "Bluesky is architected so you can export your data and follows and followers to your own or someone else's infrastructure at any time. There are some groups that have taken that offer and moved off of Bluesky's infrastructure (see Blacksky). The fact that most people aren't doing that is a sign that people are happy with how Bluesky-the-company is running things. What's the issue?", "context": "", "use_case": "social network", "switched_from": "", "story": "Be Wary of Bluesky"}, {"id": 788339504, "item_id": 49271219, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49271219", "by": "hamburglar", "date": "2026-08-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "one of the things I love about Bluesky is that you don\u2019t need to use a mobile app to have a good UX", "excerpt": "I notice that the stat the article repeatedly quotes is MAU for usage of the mobile app, but one of the things I love about Bluesky is that you don\u2019t need to use a mobile app to have a good UX. I use the mobile browser to access it, so I\u2019m not in that MAU number. Perhaps bsky has a larger number of active users that don\u2019t use the app?", "context": "", "use_case": "social networking via mobile browser", "switched_from": "", "story": "Bluesky's active user base is shrinking as its focus expands beyond the app"}, {"id": 788703520, "item_id": 49293970, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49293970", "by": "Zambyte", "date": "2026-08-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use the PWA instead of the app on mobile. It works better for me.", "excerpt": "I am extremely active on Bluesky, particularly on mobile. I use the PWA instead of the app on mobile. It works better for me.", "context": "extremely active on Bluesky", "use_case": "social media on mobile", "switched_from": "", "story": "Bluesky's active user base is shrinking as its focus expands beyond the app"}]}, {"text": " The most common complaint is that political, combative content dominates,", "cites": [{"id": 791005280, "item_id": 49437830, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49437830", "by": "nobleach", "date": "2026-08-25", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I really can't deal with BlueSky.", "excerpt": "I really can't deal with BlueSky. I wanted to because I had a lot of good \"starter packs\" for NeoVim and OCaml development. Nerd stuff is the reason I visit these sites. The problem is, I start following people and it almost always turns into politics. I may even AGREE with the person's politics but I hate reading and talking about it. God forbid I ever disagree. Funny thing though. I've heard the claims of \"CSAM on ", "context": "", "use_case": "following developer communities", "switched_from": "", "story": "Nitter and XCancel receive cease and desist notices"}, {"id": 747622864, "item_id": 46726429, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46726429", "by": "cebert", "date": "2026-01-22", "stance": "compare", "quote": "Both platforms seem to have some extremely political folks", "excerpt": "I tried using Bluesky and then ended up going back to X and blocking a lot of people. Both platforms seem to have some extremely political folks when I really just want to follow tech and business news.", "context": "", "use_case": "following tech and business news", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Have you managed to switch to Bluesky for tech people?"}, {"id": 747624688, "item_id": 46726543, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46726543", "by": "krapp", "date": "2026-01-22", "stance": "warn", "quote": "now I get the raw unfiltered feed and JFC is it a cesspool.", "excerpt": "I had high hopes for Bluesky and I made an account because a lot of people I wanted to follow from Twitter wound up there instead of the Fediverse. The only reason I'm even still on Twitter is so bots don't take my username (not that it matters, it isn't that valuable, but I've had it since 2009 and they can take it from my cold dead hands) and following a couple of Japanese accounts (mostly Aya Nishitani, creator of", "context": "", "use_case": "following people", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Have you managed to switch to Bluesky for tech people?"}, {"id": 753788337, "item_id": 47111771, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47111771", "by": "casey2", "date": "2026-02-22", "stance": "warn", "quote": "On X and similarly on Bluesky all users lack emotional development.", "excerpt": "ironically the structure of x/bluesky, that favors emotive content and echo chambers poisons its own data. You should be wary because the only kinds of people that can use these sites are those that get off on warping their personality to please the mob. I used to believe most people grew past this ape part of their brain some time between preschool and kindergarten, shortly after you stopped crying while hungry. On ", "context": "", "use_case": "social media", "switched_from": "", "story": "Be Wary of Bluesky"}]}, {"text": " and some say the people and topics they care about are not there.", "cites": [{"id": 791054640, "item_id": 49440915, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49440915", "by": "Brendinooo", "date": "2026-08-25", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I LOVE what Bluesky is doing with atproto and was there pretty early as a result, but I didn't stick around", "excerpt": "People use these things differently, for sure! I compare to those because these are social networks - the network is the biggest thing that matters. I LOVE what Bluesky is doing with atproto and was there pretty early as a result, but I didn't stick around because the kinds of people and topics I am most interested in are not represented on the site. The network just isn't there! FB has a network I want as well, they", "context": "", "use_case": "social network", "switched_from": "", "story": "Nitter and XCancel receive cease and desist notices"}, {"id": 788221312, "item_id": 49263832, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49263832", "by": "dbbk", "date": "2026-08-11", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "The engineering philosophy for AT / Bluesky is incredible", "excerpt": "If Meta had put Threads on the AT protocol instead of ActivityPub, things could have been so different... maybe there's still time. The engineering philosophy for AT / Bluesky is incredible, being able to develop your own timeline algorithms, distributed moderation agencies, etc. But whenever I give Bluesky a try unfortunately I just can't find people talking about my interests. This seems like a scale problem, which", "context": "", "use_case": "social networking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Bluesky's active user base is shrinking as its focus expands beyond the app"}]}], "praise": [{"label": "Custom feeds", "summary": "Third-party and custom feeds let users shape their timeline beyond the defaults.", "quotes": [{"id": 788342960, "item_id": 49271435, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49271435", "by": "exhumet", "date": "2026-08-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "the custom feeds are a great feature", "excerpt": "yeah im pretty fucking hard left wing, i would still have probably used twitter in this current day if it hadn't just become a total cesspool. i used bluesky because my friends moved there and tbh the custom feeds are a great feature. could not care about the owners political leanings as long as they are not being actively and outwardly malicious... pretty much most of my social media usage went down the hill when th", "context": "", "use_case": "social media", "switched_from": "Twitter", "story": "Bluesky's active user base is shrinking as its focus expands beyond the app"}, {"id": 746482320, "item_id": 46655145, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46655145", "by": "dhosek", "date": "2026-01-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "This is one of the things that I like about BlueSky.", "excerpt": "This is one of the things that I like about BlueSky. The only algorithmic feed I use is one that highlights quiet posters (https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:vpkhqolt662uhesyj6nxm7ys/feed/infreq). I\u2019ll go to the main feed once in a while, but the \u201cdiscover\u201d feed is one I ended up unpinning entirely.", "context": "", "use_case": "social media with custom feeds", "switched_from": "", "story": "Slop Is Everywhere for Those with Eyes to See"}, {"id": 782578240, "item_id": 48911140, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48911140", "by": "tancop", "date": "2026-07-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "i switched from twitter to bluesky", "excerpt": "i switched from twitter to bluesky and the first thing i noticed was the feed looking really boring so i almost quit. turns out the default is following only but then i found a great third party feed at [foryou.club] and now i can use it without getting bored. thank god for spacecowboy and their gaming pc.", "context": "", "use_case": "social media", "switched_from": "Twitter", "story": "The great digital fatigue: How digital burnout is changing social media use"}]}, {"label": "Data portability", "summary": "ATProto lets users self-host data or move to other servers while staying on the network.", "quotes": [{"id": 784505248, "item_id": 49031578, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49031578", "by": "danpalmer", "date": "2026-07-23", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "On ATProto, you can self-host your data while still making use of Bluesky/etc, in a way that you can't do with Mastodon or even email.", "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": "social network", "switched_from": "", "story": "I Regret Migrating to Codeberg"}, {"id": 753534128, "item_id": 47095883, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47095883", "by": "AgentME", "date": "2026-02-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The fact that most people aren't doing that is a sign that people are happy with how Bluesky-the-company is running things.", "excerpt": "Bluesky is architected so you can export your data and follows and followers to your own or someone else's infrastructure at any time. There are some groups that have taken that offer and moved off of Bluesky's infrastructure (see Blacksky). The fact that most people aren't doing that is a sign that people are happy with how Bluesky-the-company is running things. What's the issue?", "context": "", "use_case": "social network", "switched_from": "", "story": "Be Wary of Bluesky"}, {"id": 777500816, "item_id": 48593801, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48593801", "by": "OneDeuxTriSeiGo", "date": "2026-06-18", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "99.9% of my interaction with bluesky and atproto at large is independent of bluesky the corporation", "excerpt": "Users of different appviews are just using a different aggregator/backend in effect. The network is still largely the same but there may be minor moderation or feature differences between appviews. Users of different PDS would be the closest thing to a mastodon instance and there's thousands of different PDS without much issue. I'm on a \"third party PDS\" and I've had barely any issues. I use a \"third party\" PDS, appv", "context": "uses third-party PDS, appview, and client", "use_case": "social network via third-party PDS/appview", "switched_from": "", "story": "Has W Social switched to closed source?"}]}, {"label": "Twitter alternative", "summary": "It feels close to Twitter, and many tech accounts have migrated there.", "quotes": [{"id": 778597808, "item_id": 48662363, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48662363", "by": "archagon", "date": "2026-06-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Practically every tech account I used to follow has migrated to Bluesky or Mastodon by now.", "excerpt": "I\u2019m thinking more of the \u201cDead Weight\u201d and \u201cTurbo Brains\u201d boxes as being particularly eye-rolling. As for tech discussion, of course there is an alternative. Practically every tech account I used to follow has migrated to Bluesky or Mastodon by now. The accounts left on Twitter have a distinctly narcissistic, preachy vibe. These people care more about influencing, not engaging.", "context": "", "use_case": "tech discussion", "switched_from": "Twitter", "story": "The Coming Loop"}, {"id": 796185648, "item_id": 49761603, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49761603", "by": "jamesforestwest", "date": "2026-09-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Bluesky is almost like Twitter", "excerpt": "Bluesky is almost like Twitter, many people also use Mastodon and RSS. I also heard about threads, but I don\u2019t like it, I can\u2019t recommend it.", "context": "", "use_case": "social media", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Alternatives to Twitter/X?"}, {"id": 753761088, "item_id": 47110068, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47110068", "by": "kaboomshebang", "date": "2026-02-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "honestly BlueSky seems a better tradeoff then Twitter, at least for now", "excerpt": "Reading some of the comments here. Perhaps the key to solid decentralization is solving the self-hosting problem. If self-hosting digital tools will always be a hassle to manage/update/maintain/upgrade/etc, then we will always rely on third parties. Almost every human owns a powerful device, but almost none have the know-how to run their own services. (That's why we rely on others, which has it's tradeoffs; honestly ", "context": "", "use_case": "social media", "switched_from": "", "story": "Be Wary of Bluesky"}]}, {"label": "Mobile web", "summary": "The mobile browser and PWA work well without the native app.", "quotes": [{"id": 788339504, "item_id": 49271219, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49271219", "by": "hamburglar", "date": "2026-08-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "one of the things I love about Bluesky is that you don\u2019t need to use a mobile app to have a good UX", "excerpt": "I notice that the stat the article repeatedly quotes is MAU for usage of the mobile app, but one of the things I love about Bluesky is that you don\u2019t need to use a mobile app to have a good UX. I use the mobile browser to access it, so I\u2019m not in that MAU number. Perhaps bsky has a larger number of active users that don\u2019t use the app?", "context": "", "use_case": "social networking via mobile browser", "switched_from": "", "story": "Bluesky's active user base is shrinking as its focus expands beyond the app"}, {"id": 788703520, "item_id": 49293970, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49293970", "by": "Zambyte", "date": "2026-08-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use the PWA instead of the app on mobile. It works better for me.", "excerpt": "I am extremely active on Bluesky, particularly on mobile. I use the PWA instead of the app on mobile. It works better for me.", "context": "extremely active on Bluesky", "use_case": "social media on mobile", "switched_from": "", "story": "Bluesky's active user base is shrinking as its focus expands beyond the app"}, {"id": 788530144, "item_id": 49283134, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49283134", "by": "pjmlp", "date": "2026-08-13", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "always used the mobile Web version", "excerpt": "I have no idea how Bluesky works as native app, always used the mobile Web version. Same applies to every other social media web sites I use, and yes I need to click away the banner that regularly asks to install the native app, which would anyway be Electron for mobile.", "context": "", "use_case": "social media on mobile web", "switched_from": "", "story": "Bluesky's active user base is shrinking as its focus expands beyond the app"}]}, {"label": "Easier discovery", "summary": "One user found it easier than Mastodon to find people they wanted to follow.", "quotes": [{"id": 802907425, "item_id": 50181714, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50181714", "by": "metabagel", "date": "2026-10-21", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I found it too difficult to locate \"my peeps\" on other instances, so I switched to Bluesky.", "excerpt": "Mastodon has a serious discovery problem. IIRC, searches are only within your own instance, except for hashtag searches. This appears to have been an intentional design decision to prevent brigading / pile-ons. For me, I found it too difficult to locate \"my peeps\" on other instances, so I switched to Bluesky.", "context": "", "use_case": "social network", "switched_from": "Mastodon", "story": "The No Kings Takedown Is Why You Shouldn't Rent Your Megaphone from Zuck"}]}, {"label": "Academic community", "summary": "Part of the academic CS community is becoming active there, with paper-focused feeds.", "quotes": [{"id": 747196992, "item_id": 46699812, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46699812", "by": "big_toast", "date": "2026-01-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "a pretty significant portion of the academic CS community are beginning to materialize on bluesky", "excerpt": "I largely agree with you on the relative scales. But I definitely notice a pretty significant portion of the academic CS community are beginning to materialize on bluesky. You can probably start with Nathan Lambert (natolambert) or Jeremy Howard's bsky and branch out from there. (They tend to be schelling points for open AI networks, simonw also, swyx would be if he started using bsky also.) Paper skygest curates peo", "context": "", "use_case": "following research and tech news", "switched_from": "", "story": "Threads edges out X in daily mobile users, new data shows"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "Political toxicity", "summary": "Several users find feeds drift into politics or feel like a cesspool.", "quotes": [{"id": 791005280, "item_id": 49437830, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49437830", "by": "nobleach", "date": "2026-08-25", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I really can't deal with BlueSky.", "excerpt": "I really can't deal with BlueSky. I wanted to because I had a lot of good \"starter packs\" for NeoVim and OCaml development. Nerd stuff is the reason I visit these sites. The problem is, I start following people and it almost always turns into politics. I may even AGREE with the person's politics but I hate reading and talking about it. God forbid I ever disagree. Funny thing though. I've heard the claims of \"CSAM on ", "context": "", "use_case": "following developer communities", "switched_from": "", "story": "Nitter and XCancel receive cease and desist notices"}, {"id": 747624688, "item_id": 46726543, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46726543", "by": "krapp", "date": "2026-01-22", "stance": "warn", "quote": "now I get the raw unfiltered feed and JFC is it a cesspool.", "excerpt": "I had high hopes for Bluesky and I made an account because a lot of people I wanted to follow from Twitter wound up there instead of the Fediverse. The only reason I'm even still on Twitter is so bots don't take my username (not that it matters, it isn't that valuable, but I've had it since 2009 and they can take it from my cold dead hands) and following a couple of Japanese accounts (mostly Aya Nishitani, creator of", "context": "", "use_case": "following people", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Have you managed to switch to Bluesky for tech people?"}, {"id": 747622864, "item_id": 46726429, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46726429", "by": "cebert", "date": "2026-01-22", "stance": "compare", "quote": "Both platforms seem to have some extremely political folks", "excerpt": "I tried using Bluesky and then ended up going back to X and blocking a lot of people. Both platforms seem to have some extremely political folks when I really just want to follow tech and business news.", "context": "", "use_case": "following tech and business news", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Have you managed to switch to Bluesky for tech people?"}]}, {"label": "Missing network", "summary": "Some can't find people discussing their interests, which one calls a scale problem.", "quotes": [{"id": 791054640, "item_id": 49440915, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49440915", "by": "Brendinooo", "date": "2026-08-25", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I LOVE what Bluesky is doing with atproto and was there pretty early as a result, but I didn't stick around", "excerpt": "People use these things differently, for sure! I compare to those because these are social networks - the network is the biggest thing that matters. I LOVE what Bluesky is doing with atproto and was there pretty early as a result, but I didn't stick around because the kinds of people and topics I am most interested in are not represented on the site. The network just isn't there! FB has a network I want as well, they", "context": "", "use_case": "social network", "switched_from": "", "story": "Nitter and XCancel receive cease and desist notices"}, {"id": 788221312, "item_id": 49263832, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49263832", "by": "dbbk", "date": "2026-08-11", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "The engineering philosophy for AT / Bluesky is incredible", "excerpt": "If Meta had put Threads on the AT protocol instead of ActivityPub, things could have been so different... maybe there's still time. The engineering philosophy for AT / Bluesky is incredible, being able to develop your own timeline algorithms, distributed moderation agencies, etc. But whenever I give Bluesky a try unfortunately I just can't find people talking about my interests. This seems like a scale problem, which", "context": "", "use_case": "social networking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Bluesky's active user base is shrinking as its focus expands beyond the app"}]}, {"label": "Weak recommendations", "summary": "The algorithm misread one user's interests, and another found the default feed boring.", "quotes": [{"id": 788350256, "item_id": 49271891, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49271891", "by": "ModernMech", "date": "2026-08-12", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Bluesky had no idea what my interests were.", "excerpt": "I tried Bluesky after Threads because the ads were getting to me. I reposted one picture of my favorite bird, the albatross, and then my feed was 100% bird pictures. I'm not interested in birds generally, just albatrosses specifically. But they were nice enough pictures so I kept using the app. Then I tried telling it about my other interest which was robotics, and so I started liking posts about autonomous cars. Spe", "context": "", "use_case": "social feed", "switched_from": "Threads", "story": "Bluesky's active user base is shrinking as its focus expands beyond the app"}, {"id": 782578240, "item_id": 48911140, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48911140", "by": "tancop", "date": "2026-07-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "i switched from twitter to bluesky", "excerpt": "i switched from twitter to bluesky and the first thing i noticed was the feed looking really boring so i almost quit. turns out the default is following only but then i found a great third party feed at [foryou.club] and now i can use it without getting bored. thank god for spacecowboy and their gaming pc.", "context": "", "use_case": "social media", "switched_from": "Twitter", "story": "The great digital fatigue: How digital burnout is changing social media use"}]}, {"label": "Centralization concerns", "summary": "Critics say it is less decentralized than advertised and relies on Bluesky's relays.", "quotes": [{"id": 753757984, "item_id": 47109874, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47109874", "by": "southerntofu", "date": "2026-02-22", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Bluesky attempting a hostile takeover on federated and decentralized social networks", "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": "social network", "switched_from": "", "story": "Be Wary of Bluesky"}, {"id": 777770545, "item_id": 48610659, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48610659", "by": "kuschku", "date": "2026-06-20", "stance": "compare", "quote": "If I use bluesky's relays, it's cheap and shows everyone I follow, but it'll stop working if bluesky disappears.", "excerpt": "Imagine bluesky (the company) and mastodon.social both disappear tomorrow. My self-hosted mastodon server continues working, and can continue federating with e.g. chaos.social With bluesky it's different. If I am fully self-hosting the entire bluesky app, I need to spend ten thousands of dollars a month, but it'll keep working. If I self-host my own app, it's cheap and keeps working, but I can only see content from m", "context": "", "use_case": "social network", "switched_from": "", "story": "There Are No Instances in ATProto"}]}, {"label": "Mental health", "summary": "Some say it hurts their mood and lump it with doomscroll apps.", "quotes": [{"id": 788276308, "item_id": 49267269, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49267269", "by": "slopinthebag", "date": "2026-08-11", "stance": "warn", "quote": "When I used X or bluesky or Reddit they have a noticeable negative impact on my mental state.", "excerpt": "My socials (FB(not much)/Insta/TikTok) have fantastic algorithms, I they uplift my mood, have been responsible for positive changes in my mindset and life, etc. When I used X or bluesky or Reddit they have a noticeable negative impact on my mental state. Hackernews is 50/50. So I think social media which is content/image based can be more positive than the discussion based media. However we're getting more and more A", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Bluesky's active user base is shrinking as its focus expands beyond the app"}, {"id": 733169057, "item_id": 45823066, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45823066", "by": "unionjack22", "date": "2025-11-05", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I highly recommend dropping the dopaminergic doomloop apps like Reddit/Bluesky/X/tiktok/IG.", "excerpt": "If anyone wishes to use this study as a catalyst to shift one\u2019s attitude, then I highly recommend dropping the dopaminergic doomloop apps like Reddit/Bluesky/X/tiktok/IG. Your life will be better for it. Snapchat can stay\u2026for reasons.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Optimism associated with exceptional longevity (2019)"}]}, {"label": "No threading", "summary": "One commenter dislikes the lack of threaded discussion and awkward post navigation.", "quotes": [{"id": 764336336, "item_id": 47771021, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47771021", "by": "AlBugdy", "date": "2026-04-14", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I absolutely hate how there is no threaded discussion on Bluesky or Mastodon", "excerpt": "Might be unrelated to the specific GUI discussion but I absolutely hate how there is no threaded discussion on Bluesky or Mastodon (or Twitter which they desperately try to mimic for some reason). You have to use \"@username\" which does nothing useful when clicked. You can barely select text on a post. If you click on it, you lost your place and go inside the post? Why aren't comment GUIs like those of HN, lobsters or", "context": "", "use_case": "social media", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Fediverse deserves a dumb graphical client"}]}], "who": [{"by": "Zambyte", "context": "extremely active on Bluesky", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49293970", "date": "2026-08-13"}, {"by": "OneDeuxTriSeiGo", "context": "uses third-party PDS, appview, and client", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48593801", "date": "2026-06-18"}], "tags": ["for Twitter switchers", "self-hostable data", "for mobile web users", "for academic CS follows"], "use_cases": ["social network", "social media", "social networking", "following developer communities", "social media on mobile", "social media on mobile web"], "compared": [{"slug": "x-twitter", "name": "X (Twitter)", "co": 25, "switched_from": 4, "switched_to": 1}, {"slug": "mastodon", "name": "Mastodon", "co": 12, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "threads", "name": "Threads", "co": 6, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "blacksky", "name": "Blacksky", "co": 5, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 1}, {"slug": "facebook", "name": "Facebook", "co": 4, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "eurosky", "name": "Eurosky", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "mu-social", "name": "mu.social", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49263461", "title": "Bluesky's active user base is shrinking as its focus expands beyond the app", "mentions": 9}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47095597", "title": "Be Wary of Bluesky", "mentions": 5}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46726310", "title": "Ask HN: Have you managed to switch to Bluesky for tech people?", "mentions": 3}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49752806", "title": "Ask HN: Alternatives to Twitter/X?", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49437283", "title": "Nitter and XCancel receive cease and desist notices", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50271808", "title": "Tell HN: I'm going on strike this November", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"warn": 1}, "2025-12": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-01": {"recommend": 2, "neutral": 1, "warn": 2, "compare": 1}, "2026-02": {"recommend": 2, "neutral": 1, "warn": 2}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {"warn": 1}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {"neutral": 1, "compare": 1, "recommend": 1}, "2026-07": {"neutral": 3, "recommend": 2}, "2026-08": {"neutral": 5, "warn": 3, "recommend": 4}, "2026-09": {"neutral": 2, "recommend": 1}, "2026-10": {"recommend": 2, "warn": 1}}, "quotes": [{"id": 804412753, "item_id": 50275797, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50275797", "by": "toss1", "date": "2026-10-28", "stance": "warn", "quote": "extractive social media currently plaguing society", "excerpt": "Awesome Screed. Seriously. Particularly on-target in: >>And then came the greedy grifters. They invested money not just to get returns (they could've gotten returns on any other established field of business), but to gamble for a chance of crazy high returns. They thought software has near-zero marginal cost. They started building walled gardens, to extract rent from users. ... So the advertisement business grew, and", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Tell HN: I'm going on strike this November"}, {"id": 802907425, "item_id": 50181714, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50181714", "by": "metabagel", "date": "2026-10-21", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I found it too difficult to locate \"my peeps\" on other instances, so I switched to Bluesky.", "excerpt": "Mastodon has a serious discovery problem. IIRC, searches are only within your own instance, except for hashtag searches. This appears to have been an intentional design decision to prevent brigading / pile-ons. For me, I found it too difficult to locate \"my peeps\" on other instances, so I switched to Bluesky.", "context": "", "use_case": "social network", "switched_from": "Mastodon", "story": "The No Kings Takedown Is Why You Shouldn't Rent Your Megaphone from Zuck"}, {"id": 801894177, "item_id": 50118386, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50118386", "by": "woile", "date": "2026-10-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "You can choose any server on bluesky nowadays.", "excerpt": "Oh man, I wish everyone just moved somewhere else, specially if they are aiming to make something public. You can choose any server on bluesky nowadays. Scientists in Europe, please check out https://mu.social which is hosted by an european open foundation", "context": "", "use_case": "social network", "switched_from": "", "story": "Neural networks are clean"}, {"id": 796185648, "item_id": 49761603, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49761603", "by": "jamesforestwest", "date": "2026-09-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Bluesky is almost like Twitter", "excerpt": "Bluesky is almost like Twitter, many people also use Mastodon and RSS. I also heard about threads, but I don\u2019t like it, I can\u2019t recommend it.", "context": "", "use_case": "social media", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Alternatives to Twitter/X?"}, {"id": 796046994, "item_id": 49752937, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49752937", "by": "PaulHoule", "date": "2026-09-18", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "My friends and furs are on mastodon, tumblr, and Bluesky", "excerpt": "My friends and furs are on mastodon, tumblr, and Bluesky", "context": "", "use_case": "social networking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Alternatives to Twitter/X?"}, {"id": 794592832, "item_id": 49662052, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49662052", "by": "Hugsbox", "date": "2026-09-11", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use bluesky semi-frequently", "excerpt": "To whoever needs to hear this; Please don't use the word \"skeet\" to refer to a post online. I use bluesky semi-frequently, I've never heard that term before, and it's just... no. Just simply no.", "context": "", "use_case": "social networking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Don't let anyone take away your big box of cables"}, {"id": 791054640, "item_id": 49440915, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49440915", "by": "Brendinooo", "date": "2026-08-25", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I LOVE what Bluesky is doing with atproto and was there pretty early as a result, but I didn't stick around", "excerpt": "People use these things differently, for sure! I compare to those because these are social networks - the network is the biggest thing that matters. I LOVE what Bluesky is doing with atproto and was there pretty early as a result, but I didn't stick around because the kinds of people and topics I am most interested in are not represented on the site. The network just isn't there! FB has a network I want as well, they", "context": "", "use_case": "social network", "switched_from": "", "story": "Nitter and XCancel receive cease and desist notices"}, {"id": 791005280, "item_id": 49437830, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49437830", "by": "nobleach", "date": "2026-08-25", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I really can't deal with BlueSky.", "excerpt": "I really can't deal with BlueSky. I wanted to because I had a lot of good \"starter packs\" for NeoVim and OCaml development. Nerd stuff is the reason I visit these sites. The problem is, I start following people and it almost always turns into politics. I may even AGREE with the person's politics but I hate reading and talking about it. God forbid I ever disagree. Funny thing though. I've heard the claims of \"CSAM on ", "context": "", "use_case": "following developer communities", "switched_from": "", "story": "Nitter and XCancel receive cease and desist notices"}, {"id": 788747552, "item_id": 49296722, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49296722", "by": "afavour", "date": "2026-08-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Bluesky regularly and have a fine experience.", "excerpt": "> shame about the users I use Bluesky regularly and have a fine experience. Yes, there\u2019s an irritating minority of users. But so goes any social network, Twitter especially. At least the owners of Bluesky aren\u2019t espousing Great Replacement Theory\u2026", "context": "", "use_case": "social network", "switched_from": "", "story": "Bluesky Protocol Services"}, {"id": 788703520, "item_id": 49293970, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49293970", "by": "Zambyte", "date": "2026-08-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use the PWA instead of the app on mobile. It works better for me.", "excerpt": "I am extremely active on Bluesky, particularly on mobile. I use the PWA instead of the app on mobile. It works better for me.", "context": "extremely active on Bluesky", "use_case": "social media on mobile", "switched_from": "", "story": "Bluesky's active user base is shrinking as its focus expands beyond the app"}, {"id": 788530144, "item_id": 49283134, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49283134", "by": "pjmlp", "date": "2026-08-13", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "always used the mobile Web version", "excerpt": "I have no idea how Bluesky works as native app, always used the mobile Web version. Same applies to every other social media web sites I use, and yes I need to click away the banner that regularly asks to install the native app, which would anyway be Electron for mobile.", "context": "", "use_case": "social media on mobile web", "switched_from": "", "story": "Bluesky's active user base is shrinking as its focus expands beyond the app"}, {"id": 788350256, "item_id": 49271891, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49271891", "by": "ModernMech", "date": "2026-08-12", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Bluesky had no idea what my interests were.", "excerpt": "I tried Bluesky after Threads because the ads were getting to me. I reposted one picture of my favorite bird, the albatross, and then my feed was 100% bird pictures. I'm not interested in birds generally, just albatrosses specifically. But they were nice enough pictures so I kept using the app. Then I tried telling it about my other interest which was robotics, and so I started liking posts about autonomous cars. Spe", "context": "", "use_case": "social feed", "switched_from": "Threads", "story": "Bluesky's active user base is shrinking as its focus expands beyond the app"}, {"id": 788342960, "item_id": 49271435, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49271435", "by": "exhumet", "date": "2026-08-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "the custom feeds are a great feature", "excerpt": "yeah im pretty fucking hard left wing, i would still have probably used twitter in this current day if it hadn't just become a total cesspool. i used bluesky because my friends moved there and tbh the custom feeds are a great feature. could not care about the owners political leanings as long as they are not being actively and outwardly malicious... pretty much most of my social media usage went down the hill when th", "context": "", "use_case": "social media", "switched_from": "Twitter", "story": "Bluesky's active user base is shrinking as its focus expands beyond the app"}, {"id": 788339504, "item_id": 49271219, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49271219", "by": "hamburglar", "date": "2026-08-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "one of the things I love about Bluesky is that you don\u2019t need to use a mobile app to have a good UX", "excerpt": "I notice that the stat the article repeatedly quotes is MAU for usage of the mobile app, but one of the things I love about Bluesky is that you don\u2019t need to use a mobile app to have a good UX. I use the mobile browser to access it, so I\u2019m not in that MAU number. Perhaps bsky has a larger number of active users that don\u2019t use the app?", "context": "", "use_case": "social networking via mobile browser", "switched_from": "", "story": "Bluesky's active user base is shrinking as its focus expands beyond the app"}, {"id": 788286032, "item_id": 49267877, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49267877", "by": "jillesvangurp", "date": "2026-08-11", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I actually don't mind Bluesky.", "excerpt": "> it\u2019s simply not usable purely by virtue of who\u2019s there. You are describing X here. It kind of turned into a very toxic political platform. The exodus to Threads, Mastodon, and Bluesky happened for a good reason. After Elon Musk took over it didn't exactly improve. I'm on still on X, and on Bluesky and Mastodon. For my network of perfectly normal people, most of them did not delete their X account but just aren't ve", "context": "", "use_case": "following people chronologically", "switched_from": "X", "story": "Bluesky's active user base is shrinking as its focus expands beyond the app"}, {"id": 788276308, "item_id": 49267269, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49267269", "by": "slopinthebag", "date": "2026-08-11", "stance": "warn", "quote": "When I used X or bluesky or Reddit they have a noticeable negative impact on my mental state.", "excerpt": "My socials (FB(not much)/Insta/TikTok) have fantastic algorithms, I they uplift my mood, have been responsible for positive changes in my mindset and life, etc. When I used X or bluesky or Reddit they have a noticeable negative impact on my mental state. Hackernews is 50/50. So I think social media which is content/image based can be more positive than the discussion based media. However we're getting more and more A", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Bluesky's active user base is shrinking as its focus expands beyond the app"}, {"id": 788228704, "item_id": 49264294, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49264294", "by": "dragonwriter", "date": "2026-08-11", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "providing tighter control of what is in your feed", "excerpt": "The only way in which BlueSky is preferentially catering to the left is by existing as an alternative to X and specifically providing tighter control of what is in your feed; and this is only \u201ccatering to the Left\u201d because of the groups towards which X either has weakened or stopped enforcing its policies against harassment towards. (In a market with strong network externalities, being the dominant player is self rei", "context": "", "use_case": "social network", "switched_from": "", "story": "Bluesky's active user base is shrinking as its focus expands beyond the app"}, {"id": 788221312, "item_id": 49263832, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49263832", "by": "dbbk", "date": "2026-08-11", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "The engineering philosophy for AT / Bluesky is incredible", "excerpt": "If Meta had put Threads on the AT protocol instead of ActivityPub, things could have been so different... maybe there's still time. The engineering philosophy for AT / Bluesky is incredible, being able to develop your own timeline algorithms, distributed moderation agencies, etc. But whenever I give Bluesky a try unfortunately I just can't find people talking about my interests. This seems like a scale problem, which", "context": "", "use_case": "social networking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Bluesky's active user base is shrinking as its focus expands beyond the app"}, {"id": 784505248, "item_id": 49031578, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49031578", "by": "danpalmer", "date": "2026-07-23", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "On ATProto, you can self-host your data while still making use of Bluesky/etc, in a way that you can't do with Mastodon or even email.", "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": "social network", "switched_from": "", "story": "I Regret Migrating to Codeberg"}, {"id": 782578240, "item_id": 48911140, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48911140", "by": "tancop", "date": "2026-07-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "i switched from twitter to bluesky", "excerpt": "i switched from twitter to bluesky and the first thing i noticed was the feed looking really boring so i almost quit. turns out the default is following only but then i found a great third party feed at [foryou.club] and now i can use it without getting bored. thank god for spacecowboy and their gaming pc.", "context": "", "use_case": "social media", "switched_from": "Twitter", "story": "The great digital fatigue: How digital burnout is changing social media use"}, {"id": 781522403, "item_id": 48845150, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48845150", "by": "maelito", "date": "2026-07-09", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Also, Bluesky itself is open-source.", "excerpt": "Thanks ! We're not using Bluesky, but Atproto ;) So place reviews is federated and open-source : we use Eurosky/Mu.social daily for our social accounts. Also, Bluesky itself is open-source. > but I think the international version is still work in progress, so I'll gladly return in the future. Yes sorry, we're working on it, daily !", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "CoMaps \u2013 FOSS Offline Maps"}, {"id": 780800354, "item_id": 48800022, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48800022", "by": "dotcoma", "date": "2026-07-05", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "a bsky account (once a month)", "excerpt": "Maybe so, or sadly so, for many people. I still have a LinkedIn account (I login once or twice s week), a Twitter account (once a week) and a bsky account (once a month). I can\u2019t believe I used to have Facebook\u2019s app on my phone.", "context": "", "use_case": "social networking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Are you guys happy with existing social networkin apps?"}, {"id": 780754752, "item_id": 48797172, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48797172", "by": "hn_acker", "date": "2026-07-05", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "whatever \"censorship\" Bluesky imposes can be avoided with different clients in most cases and different PDSs in worst cases", "excerpt": "> Them continuing on such extremely partisan platforms like Truth Social for the left (BlueSky) Especially but not exclusively due to the fact that whatever \"censorship\" Bluesky imposes can be avoided with different clients in most cases and different PDSs in worst cases, I'm not going to pretend that Bluesky and Truth Social are anywhere near the same in terms of speech diversity [1] (aside: nor will I pretend that ", "context": "", "use_case": "social networking", "switched_from": "", "story": "EFF letter to FTC on X consent order (2 July 2026) [pdf]"}, {"id": 778597808, "item_id": 48662363, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48662363", "by": "archagon", "date": "2026-06-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Practically every tech account I used to follow has migrated to Bluesky or Mastodon by now.", "excerpt": "I\u2019m thinking more of the \u201cDead Weight\u201d and \u201cTurbo Brains\u201d boxes as being particularly eye-rolling. As for tech discussion, of course there is an alternative. Practically every tech account I used to follow has migrated to Bluesky or Mastodon by now. The accounts left on Twitter have a distinctly narcissistic, preachy vibe. These people care more about influencing, not engaging.", "context": "", "use_case": "tech discussion", "switched_from": "Twitter", "story": "The Coming Loop"}, {"id": 777770545, "item_id": 48610659, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48610659", "by": "kuschku", "date": "2026-06-20", "stance": "compare", "quote": "If I use bluesky's relays, it's cheap and shows everyone I follow, but it'll stop working if bluesky disappears.", "excerpt": "Imagine bluesky (the company) and mastodon.social both disappear tomorrow. My self-hosted mastodon server continues working, and can continue federating with e.g. chaos.social With bluesky it's different. If I am fully self-hosting the entire bluesky app, I need to spend ten thousands of dollars a month, but it'll keep working. If I self-host my own app, it's cheap and keeps working, but I can only see content from m", "context": "", "use_case": "social network", "switched_from": "", "story": "There Are No Instances in ATProto"}, {"id": 777500816, "item_id": 48593801, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48593801", "by": "OneDeuxTriSeiGo", "date": "2026-06-18", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "99.9% of my interaction with bluesky and atproto at large is independent of bluesky the corporation", "excerpt": "Users of different appviews are just using a different aggregator/backend in effect. The network is still largely the same but there may be minor moderation or feature differences between appviews. Users of different PDS would be the closest thing to a mastodon instance and there's thousands of different PDS without much issue. I'm on a \"third party PDS\" and I've had barely any issues. I use a \"third party\" PDS, appv", "context": "uses third-party PDS, appview, and client", "use_case": "social network via third-party PDS/appview", "switched_from": "", "story": "Has W Social switched to closed source?"}, {"id": 764336336, "item_id": 47771021, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47771021", "by": "AlBugdy", "date": "2026-04-14", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I absolutely hate how there is no threaded discussion on Bluesky or Mastodon", "excerpt": "Might be unrelated to the specific GUI discussion but I absolutely hate how there is no threaded discussion on Bluesky or Mastodon (or Twitter which they desperately try to mimic for some reason). You have to use \"@username\" which does nothing useful when clicked. You can barely select text on a post. If you click on it, you lost your place and go inside the post? Why aren't comment GUIs like those of HN, lobsters or", "context": "", "use_case": "social media", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Fediverse deserves a dumb graphical client"}, {"id": 753788337, "item_id": 47111771, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47111771", "by": "casey2", "date": "2026-02-22", "stance": "warn", "quote": "On X and similarly on Bluesky all users lack emotional development.", "excerpt": "ironically the structure of x/bluesky, that favors emotive content and echo chambers poisons its own data. You should be wary because the only kinds of people that can use these sites are those that get off on warping their personality to please the mob. I used to believe most people grew past this ape part of their brain some time between preschool and kindergarten, shortly after you stopped crying while hungry. On ", "context": "", "use_case": "social media", "switched_from": "", "story": "Be Wary of Bluesky"}, {"id": 753761088, "item_id": 47110068, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47110068", "by": "kaboomshebang", "date": "2026-02-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "honestly BlueSky seems a better tradeoff then Twitter, at least for now", "excerpt": "Reading some of the comments here. Perhaps the key to solid decentralization is solving the self-hosting problem. If self-hosting digital tools will always be a hassle to manage/update/maintain/upgrade/etc, then we will always rely on third parties. Almost every human owns a powerful device, but almost none have the know-how to run their own services. (That's why we rely on others, which has it's tradeoffs; honestly ", "context": "", "use_case": "social media", "switched_from": "", "story": "Be Wary of Bluesky"}, {"id": 753757984, "item_id": 47109874, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47109874", "by": "southerntofu", "date": "2026-02-22", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Bluesky attempting a hostile takeover on federated and decentralized social networks", "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": "social network", "switched_from": "", "story": "Be Wary of Bluesky"}, {"id": 753735840, "item_id": 47108490, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47108490", "by": "raincole", "date": "2026-02-21", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "BlueSky is a direct alternative to Twitter.", "excerpt": "> That's the same argument people made about Twitter. \"If it goes bad, we'll just leave.\" We know how that played out. I don't get it. What is this supposed to mean? Is the author implying people won't leave Twitter? If it's true then this whole article is pure waste of time: if people won't switch to BlueSky anyway then why should we be wary of it? BlueSky is a direct alternative to Twitter. The UI is a spitting ima", "context": "", "use_case": "Twitter alternative", "switched_from": "", "story": "Be Wary of Bluesky"}, {"id": 753534128, "item_id": 47095883, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47095883", "by": "AgentME", "date": "2026-02-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The fact that most people aren't doing that is a sign that people are happy with how Bluesky-the-company is running things.", "excerpt": "Bluesky is architected so you can export your data and follows and followers to your own or someone else's infrastructure at any time. There are some groups that have taken that offer and moved off of Bluesky's infrastructure (see Blacksky). The fact that most people aren't doing that is a sign that people are happy with how Bluesky-the-company is running things. What's the issue?", "context": "", "use_case": "social network", "switched_from": "", "story": "Be Wary of Bluesky"}, {"id": 747624688, "item_id": 46726543, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46726543", "by": "krapp", "date": "2026-01-22", "stance": "warn", "quote": "now I get the raw unfiltered feed and JFC is it a cesspool.", "excerpt": "I had high hopes for Bluesky and I made an account because a lot of people I wanted to follow from Twitter wound up there instead of the Fediverse. The only reason I'm even still on Twitter is so bots don't take my username (not that it matters, it isn't that valuable, but I've had it since 2009 and they can take it from my cold dead hands) and following a couple of Japanese accounts (mostly Aya Nishitani, creator of", "context": "", "use_case": "following people", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Have you managed to switch to Bluesky for tech people?"}, {"id": 747622864, "item_id": 46726429, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46726429", "by": "cebert", "date": "2026-01-22", "stance": "compare", "quote": "Both platforms seem to have some extremely political folks", "excerpt": "I tried using Bluesky and then ended up going back to X and blocking a lot of people. Both platforms seem to have some extremely political folks when I really just want to follow tech and business news.", "context": "", "use_case": "following tech and business news", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Have you managed to switch to Bluesky for tech people?"}, {"id": 747621584, "item_id": 46726349, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46726349", "by": "rekabis", "date": "2026-01-22", "stance": "warn", "quote": "BlueSky is equally in cahoots with authoritarianists and fascists.", "excerpt": "BlueSky is equally in cahoots with authoritarianists and fascists. They recently welcomed and verified ICE. Yes, that ICE. While the Fediverse is likely to have even fewer content creators, it isn\u2019t a captured marketplace like Twitter or BlueSky is. There is already one programming-focused instance, https://www.programming.dev/", "context": "", "use_case": "social network", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Have you managed to switch to Bluesky for tech people?"}, {"id": 747196992, "item_id": 46699812, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46699812", "by": "big_toast", "date": "2026-01-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "a pretty significant portion of the academic CS community are beginning to materialize on bluesky", "excerpt": "I largely agree with you on the relative scales. But I definitely notice a pretty significant portion of the academic CS community are beginning to materialize on bluesky. You can probably start with Nathan Lambert (natolambert) or Jeremy Howard's bsky and branch out from there. (They tend to be schelling points for open AI networks, simonw also, swyx would be if he started using bsky also.) Paper skygest curates peo", "context": "", "use_case": "following research and tech news", "switched_from": "", "story": "Threads edges out X in daily mobile users, new data shows"}, {"id": 747022849, "item_id": 46688928, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46688928", "by": "elcapitan", "date": "2026-01-19", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I mostly stay away from algorithmic timelines and deactivate retweets etc on X and Bluesky.", "excerpt": "I mostly stay away from algorithmic timelines and deactivate retweets etc on X and Bluesky. For the rest I use them for some snarky comments with a select group of people. I've tried completely quitting, but I'm not very social irl and would get lonely eventually, so this controlled dose of interaction is what works for me.", "context": "", "use_case": "snarky comments with select people", "switched_from": "", "story": "Use Social Media Mindfully"}, {"id": 746482320, "item_id": 46655145, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46655145", "by": "dhosek", "date": "2026-01-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "This is one of the things that I like about BlueSky.", "excerpt": "This is one of the things that I like about BlueSky. The only algorithmic feed I use is one that highlights quiet posters (https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:vpkhqolt662uhesyj6nxm7ys/feed/infreq). I\u2019ll go to the main feed once in a while, but the \u201cdiscover\u201d feed is one I ended up unpinning entirely.", "context": "", "use_case": "social media with custom feeds", "switched_from": "", "story": "Slop Is Everywhere for Those with Eyes to See"}, {"id": 742069297, "item_id": 46379331, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46379331", "by": "rcarmo", "date": "2025-12-24", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "occasionally look into BlueSky", "excerpt": "My anecdotal experience is that I still have to dive into X to follow some people. I use mostly Mastodon, occasionally look into BlueSky, and pretty much stopped caring about Threads since Meta decided to treat the EU differently. I\u2019d say the grand social experiment the post portrays just isn\u2019t happening.", "context": "", "use_case": "social media", "switched_from": "", "story": "My 2026 Open Social Web Predictions"}, {"id": 733169057, "item_id": 45823066, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45823066", "by": "unionjack22", "date": "2025-11-05", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I highly recommend dropping the dopaminergic doomloop apps like Reddit/Bluesky/X/tiktok/IG.", "excerpt": "If anyone wishes to use this study as a catalyst to shift one\u2019s attitude, then I highly recommend dropping the dopaminergic doomloop apps like Reddit/Bluesky/X/tiktok/IG. Your life will be better for it. Snapchat can stay\u2026for reasons.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Optimism associated with exceptional longevity (2019)"}]}