Really interesting things afoot in social media.
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Really interesting things afoot in social media. It seems like "W", a newly announced "European alternative to X" is actually a fork of the Bluesky code, and is, at least for now, kind of part of the Bluesky AT Proto network. (Thanks to @quillmatiq for the explainer.)
And, apparently #Bluesky board member @mmasnick really doesn't like the idea.
It will be fascinating to see how this develops.
@mastodonmigration @quillmatiq @mmasnick Which raises questions.
If this network is profiling with photo verification etc for all users , will it allow people to connect with other parts of Bluesky, where there are bots or unverified accounts? If so, the purpose is lost. However, if it remains closed to other parts of bluesky, it will most likely be isolated. I don’t think this will take off either way .
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@mastodonmigration I was specifically calling out not moving the needle, which the community (and Bluesky for that matter) most definitely is. There are far more fully independent apps and infra in the ATmosphere than folks here give credit for.
I'm not getting into the normal "decentralization" conversation because, yes, we'll talk past each other, and it's difficult to have a meaningful discussion about it here.
@quillmatiq @mastodonmigration @mmasnick @ricci My original comment was more about moving the needle in terms federated decentralized applications. No one Denies there's activity in the Atmosphere but does it fulfill the promise of independent but federated social media. In my mind it hasn't reached that high water mark.
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@quillmatiq @mike @mmasnick @ricci
Understand that there are a lot of interesting and creative things going on with AT Proto.
The reason for referencing Rob's AWDY metric is to help with convos like the one between you and Mike. That is, he states it is not meaningfully decentralized and you reply with a list of apps and projects. He's talking about ground truth and you are addressing technological potential.
Perhaps decentralizable and decentralized, although that let's a lot of pushback.
@quillmatiq @mike @mmasnick @mastodonmigration by the way, I posted the Atmosphere equivalent of this map over on Bluesky, or you can load the map and play around, it's interactive and lets you select between the social networks and apply other filters
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@mike Yes. There's standard.site that's being worked on across the blogging platforms I mentioned, and there's lexicon.community, which is an independent board that helps simpler interop happen.
Apps can also interop with the permission of the user by using the data in their PDS. For instance, blento.app uses a user's data across apps to build a webpage of all your ATProto content, and they didn't have to work with any of the apps directly to make that happen.
@quillmatiq @mastodonmigration @mmasnick So interop is being worked on through third parties? There's different interop for different applications?
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@quillmatiq @mastodonmigration @mmasnick So interop is being worked on through third parties? There's different interop for different applications?
@mike Yup - highly recommend reading up on Lexicons in ATProto!
If you want a really deep dive, I'm a fan of Kuba's breakdown of the system: https://mackuba.eu/2025/08/20/introduction-to-atproto/
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@mike @quillmatiq @mmasnick hey Mike Fraser you were in the audience when I gave this talk at #Fedicon weren’t you?
https://bmannconsulting.com/notes/beyond-microblogging-atproto/
It has a list of some of the many projects in the ATProto ecosystem
Please don’t erase the #ATProto community. We’re on the same side.
@boris @quillmatiq @mmasnick I was Boris, I'm just not sold on atmosphere as fulfilling my personal requirements for an independent federated space. Simply too many roads run through BlueSky which I feel has been captured. In any other time I wouldn't be as sensitive to this as I am now however my country is under existential threat and I simply don't feel that atmosphere can be trusted. The fediverse though not perfect self regulates more effectively and independently.
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@boris @quillmatiq @mmasnick I was Boris, I'm just not sold on atmosphere as fulfilling my personal requirements for an independent federated space. Simply too many roads run through BlueSky which I feel has been captured. In any other time I wouldn't be as sensitive to this as I am now however my country is under existential threat and I simply don't feel that atmosphere can be trusted. The fediverse though not perfect self regulates more effectively and independently.
@mike @quillmatiq @mmasnick that’s fine - but “not really moved the needle” is incorrect - there’s a sample of a dozen or so apps, out of many more.
All using the same protocol just like the AP ones you listed.
Go yell at Bluesky! It’s a company! They can do what they do and you can disagree.
The #ATProto community is building bottoms up.
It’s like saying you aren’t going to trust the email network because Gmail and Office365 are involved in routing email. This is how protocols work.
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Really interesting things afoot in social media. It seems like "W", a newly announced "European alternative to X" is actually a fork of the Bluesky code, and is, at least for now, kind of part of the Bluesky AT Proto network. (Thanks to @quillmatiq for the explainer.)
And, apparently #Bluesky board member @mmasnick really doesn't like the idea.
It will be fascinating to see how this develops.
@mastodonmigration @quillmatiq @mmasnick Why not use a true and tried European (distributed) social network like Mastodon? Seems like a no-brainer to me.
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@mike @quillmatiq @mmasnick that’s fine - but “not really moved the needle” is incorrect - there’s a sample of a dozen or so apps, out of many more.
All using the same protocol just like the AP ones you listed.
Go yell at Bluesky! It’s a company! They can do what they do and you can disagree.
The #ATProto community is building bottoms up.
It’s like saying you aren’t going to trust the email network because Gmail and Office365 are involved in routing email. This is how protocols work.
@boris @quillmatiq @mmasnick My comment is not simply in regards to the number of apps. It is in the number of apps that truly federate between each other and in heterogeneous environments. My original comment was meant to convey that BlueSky/AT folks often talk a lot about dectralization and federation but from what I can see from the outside looking in it seems like lip service.
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@boris @quillmatiq @mmasnick My comment is not simply in regards to the number of apps. It is in the number of apps that truly federate between each other and in heterogeneous environments. My original comment was meant to convey that BlueSky/AT folks often talk a lot about dectralization and federation but from what I can see from the outside looking in it seems like lip service.
@boris @quillmatiq @mmasnick And if we're going to use the email analogy AT right now more resembles AOL email than SMTP.
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@boris @quillmatiq @mmasnick My comment is not simply in regards to the number of apps. It is in the number of apps that truly federate between each other and in heterogeneous environments. My original comment was meant to convey that BlueSky/AT folks often talk a lot about dectralization and federation but from what I can see from the outside looking in it seems like lip service.
@mike @quillmatiq @mmasnick all of the apps I listed and every account all federate with each other. There are over 2000 PDS hosts.
The data lives in every users account. Apps aggregate them as needed. It’s all connected and run by many people.
The criticism you are looking for is “Bluesky hosts too many of the accounts”…
…which the ATProto community is actively bottoms up growing. Yelling at us is not helping.
Got any suggestions? Want to donate? Support Blacksky, invest in Gander.
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@boris @quillmatiq @mmasnick And if we're going to use the email analogy AT right now more resembles AOL email than SMTP.
@mike it does not.
It’s an open protocol with 1000s of account hosts that anyone can spin up in seconds at low cost.
Oh, and it’s applying to join the IETF, just like SMTP.
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@mastodonmigration @quillmatiq @mmasnick Why not use a true and tried European (distributed) social network like Mastodon? Seems like a no-brainer to me.
@grumpydad @mastodonmigration @quillmatiq @mmasnick There’s no money involved in that
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@grumpydad @mastodonmigration @quillmatiq @mmasnick There’s no money involved in that
@doktorzjivago @mastodonmigration @quillmatiq @mmasnick No. But there are fewer right wing fascists here.
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@mike @quillmatiq @mmasnick all of the apps I listed and every account all federate with each other. There are over 2000 PDS hosts.
The data lives in every users account. Apps aggregate them as needed. It’s all connected and run by many people.
The criticism you are looking for is “Bluesky hosts too many of the accounts”…
…which the ATProto community is actively bottoms up growing. Yelling at us is not helping.
Got any suggestions? Want to donate? Support Blacksky, invest in Gander.
@boris @quillmatiq @mmasnick I'm not really "yelling" at you as voicing my misgivings about the atmosphere. I have no interest in participating in the AT community and I think I've already outlined my reasons why. Basically the fediverse checks most of my boxes while the atmosphere does not so that's where I'm directing my effort. I was merely trying g to explain why.
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@boris @quillmatiq @mmasnick I'm not really "yelling" at you as voicing my misgivings about the atmosphere. I have no interest in participating in the AT community and I think I've already outlined my reasons why. Basically the fediverse checks most of my boxes while the atmosphere does not so that's where I'm directing my effort. I was merely trying g to explain why.
@mike conflating Bluesky-the-company and the ATProto community are not great. “Yelling”
It’s like as if I constantly shared the belief that Mastodon GMBH makes all decisions.
It’s wrong, and doesn’t respect the work of everyone that helps build the Fediverse.
I’d ask you to not do this. You don’t have to join, but spreading misinformation doesn’t help anyone.
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Really interesting things afoot in social media. It seems like "W", a newly announced "European alternative to X" is actually a fork of the Bluesky code, and is, at least for now, kind of part of the Bluesky AT Proto network. (Thanks to @quillmatiq for the explainer.)
And, apparently #Bluesky board member @mmasnick really doesn't like the idea.
It will be fascinating to see how this develops.
@mastodonmigration @quillmatiq @mmasnick This is in technical terms tone deaf and a pile of shite
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@mastodonmigration @quillmatiq @mmasnick Why not use a true and tried European (distributed) social network like Mastodon? Seems like a no-brainer to me.
@mastodonmigration @quillmatiq @mmasnick @grumpydad Somebody else suggested, that the EU would rather prefer a single point of responsibility. Too bad… -
Really interesting things afoot in social media. It seems like "W", a newly announced "European alternative to X" is actually a fork of the Bluesky code, and is, at least for now, kind of part of the Bluesky AT Proto network. (Thanks to @quillmatiq for the explainer.)
And, apparently #Bluesky board member @mmasnick really doesn't like the idea.
It will be fascinating to see how this develops.
-
Really interesting things afoot in social media. It seems like "W", a newly announced "European alternative to X" is actually a fork of the Bluesky code, and is, at least for now, kind of part of the Bluesky AT Proto network. (Thanks to @quillmatiq for the explainer.)
And, apparently #Bluesky board member @mmasnick really doesn't like the idea.
It will be fascinating to see how this develops.
@mastodonmigration @quillmatiq @mmasnick slightly more interested as BS dislikes it. Still not enough to support