Anyone used it? I’m mostly on mastodon, but I really only post dev updates
this post was submitted on 07 Feb 2024
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Yea I have. It's more twitter-like in its vibe. But people seem happy there.
I'm not really a twitter person ... so it's not really my jam. But the AT Proto as an idea interests me and I'm interested to see what happens on it. Big question for is still whether a second (or third etc) relay will every be run.
What are the advantages of AT Proto over ActivityPub?
I claim no expertise here ... so take this with plenty of salt. I also don't know how much of this is specific to the protocol itself or is just the way bluesky have decided to build things.
I see two interesting and nice things here:
- Users and their follows or social graph are portable across the protocol
- The architecture (again, not sure how much of this is a protocol thing) has different levels of centrality or decentralisation for different parts of the system. So you don't have to pick an instance just to create an account but can instead pick moderation policies and feeds when you want to. The issue is that underlying everything is a big giant server that's collecting data and spitting it all out as a firehose. There's only one right now (BlueSky's) but the code is open and they say that others can start one too (however onerous that would be). The upside is that all the things downstream from the giant server can rely on it and instead make apps, feeds, execute moderation etc ... which could be a nicer experience for both devs and users.
In the end, my impression of it is that they're building more of a framework and ecosystem for others to build social media within. ActivityPub by comparison is much more of a playground of ideas and tools that people can make and host whatever they want with it. So more truly decentralised but also, IMO, puts more weight on the developers and the users to make the ecosystem happen and work well. For instance, we could have more portable user accounts on the fediverse, but we don't (yet), because that'd have to be built and then implemented by all the platforms.
Once I see another Big Giant Central server running in some sort of sustainable or functioning way, then I personally think it'll have a lot of promise. Before then, however, a number of developers might get interested in developing in that ecosystem because of how it might allow them to make the thing they're interested in and not worry about other things.
As for how ATProto and ActivityPub can and should relate to each other in the future ... they're the only two decently sized projects really having a good shot at this decentralised thing (though there a few web3.0 things out there AFAIU, eg farcaster) ... and I think they're better off being "friends" rather than "enemies" for that reason.
If my impression of their differences is accurate, they'll have different strengths going forward. IMO, ActivityPub will be more of smaller community thing. If all of the neuroscientists want to create a network of forums and blogs, that they're in control of, around the world that all talk to each other but without being connected to all of the other social media, then the fediverse and its platforms will be the ecosystem to use. If neuroscientists want to talk to the rest of the world but still have ownship and control over their data and maybe their platform or feed or moderation, then AT-Proto will be the place to go. Bridges between the two would complement the flexibility here.
i have a layman's understanding of AT Proto, but it seems to compartmentalize between different parts of the service. Front ends, databases, and backends can be hosted separately and amalgamate into one, in the abstract.
Practically, however, AT Proto allows account portability, wherein users can swap what instance they use as a frontend on a whim, even if their home instance is down. Usernames are domains instance of username@domain, that are verified by the DNS. But AT Proto seems a lot less flexible than ActivityPub. We'll have to see when federation is live, but I'm not sure it really suits anything beyond (micro)blogging.
I was a Twitter user and had been for a while; Bluesky replaced it for me and I rather like it. It feels very old-school Twitter, but is lacking some niceties such as videos and DMs.
I use it sometimes, there can be a bit of drama at times, but it's pretty nice.
I think I'll just stick with Mastodon and Lemmy.
Don't see the appeal of it. If you value your privacy use Mastodon or else you use Threads that has 130M users and not 3M.
Mastodon has no privacy at all. Even if you host your own instance. People use Mastodon for freedom and to get away from manipulation by corporate social media.
That's not quite right. Mastodon does not have any privacy at all and it's not safe to treat it as privacy platform.
What makes Mastodon worth using is the federated model and lack of commercial engagement algorithms.
Threads is garbage. You get one page of the people you subscribed to and then the next one is random promoted accounts that might be popular or whatever. The algorithm has more of a chokehold than it does even on Twitter. They can inflate their numbers by saying everyone with an Instagram account has Threads, but I'm not so sure people are actually using it.
Whatever one might say of BlueSky, it shows me the posts of the people I chose to follow, which is the whole point. Mastodon would be better in principle, but most people I follow don't use it so it doesn't do much for me.
Well I'm back from Bluesky. Lots of furries over there.
Oh, really? Are the, uh, fandom artists there too?
Yes
Well, I've been on it for a while and it's kind of nice. The last time I was there I could notice that some of Twitter's toxicity was starting to take root because lots of people came from Twitter. But other than that, I am not comfortable using something that is not open source nowadays.
I'm done with this shit. I don't want proprietary stuff in my life anymore. I still have some, but the less I do the better, and especially when it comes to things like this. I don't want to sit around waiting for inevitable, greedy, shitty money-driven decision to run this thing into a fucking wall.
Blusky is decentralized-ish, but it's not open. And eventually money is going to be an issue and it's eventually going to be filled with ads or be an algorithmic nightmare or whatever, like everything else before it.
I am sticking with Masterdawn and I barely go there. I don't post regularly there, I don't have anyone or anything interesting to follow there. It's mostly a tool for me to follow software and everything. But I won't have it any other way. I'm done. I'm not moving anymore. I am done following and getting invested in the latest proprietary bullshit website or app that is cool right now, but is inevitably going to try and suck out as much money as it can from its users.
Look at BeReal. I love the idea. It's great. It's what social media should be. But now, there are allowing celebrities and companies on it. Sucking the life out of it. And I loved the idea but I never used the app. Why? Because they didn't have a way to make money! Of course this was going to happen.
Anyway. Is it open-source? No? Then I'll pass.
Thanks for the summary. I signed up for it just in case, but don't think I'll end up using it. I have a similar experience with Mastodon, but then I was never really into Twitter, either.
I share your feelings on the importance of open platforms. While reddit may have been shitty for a while, the whole third-party apps thing was an eye-opener for me, and started me thinking about (and moving toward) open source.
My next big challenge will be to de-Google, but I'm increasingly up for it. Problem is I have a ton of site identities associated with my email address there, so we'll see how that works out.
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Now, the conversation about what comes after the platform-now-called-X has largely shifted to ActivityPub, the decentralized protocol powering Mastodon, a budding ecosystem of other services, and eventually, Meta’s Threads.
In an interview with The Verge, CEO Jay Graber says that the team needed to build out more of its moderation features and get its infrastructure in a stable state before finally moving out of closed beta.
She says the app has seen over 3 million sign-ups since it launched a year ago and that there have been “a lot more downloads.” The hope is that some of those people will convert into active users now that they don’t need an invite to join, and that Bluesky can play a role as a conversation platform for a more general audience.
Graber says the Bluesky app has 1.6 million monthly users and 25,000 custom feeds — a unique feature of the AT Protocol powering it — for people to choose from.
While the AT Protocol is being opened up soon, the Bluesky company plans to make money via a variety of ways, including charging users for additional features in its app.
Companies like Meta “are making moves that were unthinkable a few years ago” by embracing decentralization, and even though ActivityPub has captured the zeitgeist now, Bluesky thinks there’s still room for another take on what is increasingly looking like the next phase of social networking.
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