Reflections on joining Bluesky: Opportunities and risks for the scientific community - Fabrizio Musacchio

Some thoughts from a neuroscientist who's been kicking Bluesky's tyres: "The scientific community is once again shifting platforms... Between Mastodon’s ideals and Bluesky’s usability, we are faced with a complex landscape of compromises".

Background:

• first he left X for Mastodon following Musk's purchase
• "over time, activity on Mastodon — at least within my own scientific community — declined steadily"

"A few weeks ago, I created a Bluesky account ... much of the neuroscience community had shifted there", including many who'd not moved to Mastodon, but since adopted Bluesky. He seems optimistic. Why?

• UX: "Bluesky’s user interface could be perceived as more intuitive and user-friendly... replicates the familiar Twitter layout... onboarding and community-building noticeably easier", with Bluesky Social providing an easy onramp ("default entry point, simplifying the registration process"
• global people discovery: while viewing a Masto user's "full profile and post history ... is still cumbersome ... Bluesky makes the entire public profile and posting history of any user easily accessible"
• Starter packs

He doesn't mention custom feeds?

But there are things he misses:

• "The ability to follow hashtags"
• cozyweb:
  • "specialized servers ... creates a distinct community feel",
  • "Local feeds ... fostering engagement with new voices"
  • "decentralized and local approach to moderation offers a clarity and accountability that Bluesky, with its more centralized moderation structure, currently lacks" - not sure he has heard of composable moderation?
• community involvement in feature development, although there he clearly hasn't yet discovered that Bluesky does things identically
• features like "schedule posts or to edit them after publishing".

Biggest concern: while decentralisable in theory, it's not decentralised in practice, and the business model's not clear and validated, so "What guarantees are there that the platform will not be acquired, monetized, or filled with advertisements?... Much depends on how quickly and widely genuine decentralization is adopted in practice."