"Reflections on the Bluesky vs. Fediverse Rivalry: A Call for Collaboration"

**Headline:**

"Reflections on the Bluesky vs. Fediverse Rivalry: A Call for Collaboration"

**Keywords:**

Bluesky, Fediverse, rivalry, collaboration, social web, decentralization, technology, community, bridge-building, open source

**Rewrite:**

In the ongoing discourse surrounding the Bluesky vs. Fediverse rivalry, here's a comprehensive analysis and a plea for unity within the broader social web community.

**Conclusion:**

While the conflict between Bluesky and Fediverse may seem divisive, it has sparked productive conversations and highlighted the importance of collaboration. Despite differing approaches, both sides share a common goal of advancing the open social web. Building bridges and fostering dialogue are essential steps toward a more inclusive and interconnected digital ecosystem.

**Links to Knowledge:**

- @activitypubblueskybridge@venera.social: [Link]

- W3C Social Web Incubation Community Group: [Link]

**Hashtags:**

#Bluesky #Fediverse #OpenSocialWeb #Collaboration #Decentralization #CommunityBuilding #BridgeBuilding

**Disclaimer:**

The opinions expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the entire social web community.

 Nobody:

Me: Let me tell you all about my thoughts on the recent rivalry (read: fairly one-sided grumbling on the Fedi side) between Bluesky and the Fediverse.

What I think of the “conflict”: Wholly misguided. But I’m glad it’s happening, because it’s galvanized a bunch of people and projects on the Fediverse side.

I have no doubt that a bridge between Bluesky and Fediverse will go up in very short order (already being worked on at @activitypubblueskybridge@venera.social). Some instances will block it, most others won’t, and people will continue posting and interacting as usual.

What I think of Bluesky: As always, I look at _who_’s doing the project first, and at the code and architecture a distant second. And the Bluesky team (Jay, Paul, Emily, David, Why, many others) are some top-notch humans — I’ve met and talked to many of them in person and online. I think I understand, overall, their motives and what they’re trying to achieve, and I want them to succeed (just as I do with the Fediverse).

What I think of the Bluesky data model: Siiiigh, ok, so, do I wish they at least started with the ActivityStreams2 data model for posts and tried to extend from there? Yes. Do I understand why they studied it and decided to not use it? After a bunch of discussion, yes :/ Regardless, I think we (the builders of the protocol bridges, and the larger Social Web) will be able to translate between the two data models fairly easily.

What I think of the AT Protocol: Do I wish the team didn’t re-invent JSON-RPC and JSON Schemas? Yeah, my heart always leans towards interop- and existing spec-first. Do I understand why they did it? Yeah, maybe, grudgingly. Change is bad, but also, they wanted to play around with some new options and technologies, and I highly suspect it will help improve the Social Web overall.

What I think of the Bluesky architecture: Ok, so, this is where I’m kind of boggled by the current Fediverse discourse. That architecture? Is almost exactly what the Fediverse will end up with, as it scales. Third-party search indexing (opt-in, of course) is a general tool of a decentralized Web, there’s nothing AT-specific about it. Same with all the other pieces.

What I think of the source of Bluesky funding: Heeeere’s the thing. If a billionaire wanted to give me a million $ or ten, and I saw it as an opportunity to further the cause of the Open Social Web, would I do the same thing Bluesky is doing? Yes, IN A HEARTBEAT. (So, if you know any extra $ burning people’s pockets, hook me up.) Except I think I’d re-use existing tech more.

Just whose team am I on? Uh… I’m on team Plurality, Queer Post-Scarcity Space Anarchism, and Libre and Liberatory Software. I’m against fascism, and _for_ trying to survive the current Multicrisis/Jackpot with the least loss of human lives and least species extinctions. (Except for deer ticks, those can seriously go to hell.) So in that regard, I think (until proof to the contrary) that the Bluesky team is on our side.

But so, where am I going to be spending my time and effort? On the Fediverse side, of course.

Btw, I’m not really thrilled with the term “Fediverse”. It’s better than “Mastodon”, of course, for obvious reasons. And better than “ActivityPub” (since that’s just ONE protocol of the whole stack). But the thing is.. there’s nothing sacred about federation. It’s just one (albeit important) tool in the distributed system toolbox. To name our whole scene after it, is like naming us “Array-ists”, or “Linked List-ists”. It’s just a low level detail.
Let’s just call us for what we are: the Open Social Web.

Anyways, what do I think of the current Fediverse: Well, it’s my people. I love it and use it, and am hoping to help it in whatever ways possible (paying instance admins, reviving the W3C Social Web Incubation Community Group for standards work, building bridges). Do I think it needs some improvements? Oh, hells yes — and I’m’a tell you all about those, shortly.

So, we have a lot of work to do. And remember, we’re aiming for the Pluriverse. And lots of bridges.

A Novosibirsk paedophile convicted of murdering a relative has returned from SVO and goes to schools to meet children

 A Novosibirsk paedophile convicted of murdering a relative has returned from SVO and goes to schools to meet children

As his ex-wife writes, 35-year-old Nikita Semyanov went to SVO from the colony. In May 2022, he received 9 years of strogach for killing his father-in-law over a conflict in the garage.

"He put a cellophane bag over his head and wrapped it with wire to make sure he was dead, he took the body into the car and drove it to his plot, stripped it and buried it in the foundations of the house"

After returning from the war, budgetary institutions began to report on the killer's visits: he visited the library named after Garin-Mikhailovsky. Garin-Mikhailovsky library and the Novosibirsk branch of the "Russian Association of Heroes".

"And now the Internet actively walks posts, that Semyanov Nikita is a hero of the SWO, and also goes to meetings with children and teaches them love for the Motherland and overcoming fear. <...> How are such people allowed to children?!"

- writes his ex-wife. After the publication of the post about her ex-husband, her mother received phone threats, "But on one call everything stopped."

Later on Twitter (X), a friend of the wife said that Nikita, who was a guitar teacher at the lyceum, met his future wife at the age of 12-13, got pregnant at 16 and gave birth at 17.

"During the years we knew each other he *did* hit on 12-15 year old girls on a regular basis. He mostly preferred to do it with their consent, but not always," the friend writes

- writes the friend.

According to her, he repeatedly tried to rape her and threatened to kill her. The girl in her post also noted that the man "from childhood broke her psyche", without giving details.

It may seem that Bitcoin has not provided significant end-user control or societal value upon initial observation, but its fate is not yet determined.

It may seem that Bitcoin has not provided significant end-user control or societal value upon initial observation, but its fate is not yet determined. 

Rather than dismissing it entirely, we should view Bitcoin as a work in progress and strive to improve it. Dismissing it as a failure does a disservice to the cypherpunk movement.

Let us not judge Bitcoin solely based on the lofty goals assigned to it upon its initial release. If we measure the internet using the same metric, it may appear to have failed. However, we cannot deny that it is used daily for instant communication across the world, even if it is mostly through centralized platforms. Similarly, Bitcoin enables instant transactions across the world, even if it is mostly through centralized platforms.

In today's world, it is often more convenient and profitable to create a centralized platform that controls and extracts rent, rather than a decentralized product that prioritizes user protection. However, true user protection can only be achieved when individuals, like the developers of Mastodon, consistently create user-protecting systems that fill gaps and encourage their use. Bitcoin can only protect its users when multiple people, preferably from the same community, develop user-protecting systems on top of it. Over the past few years, various privacy-focused wallets have gained popularity, and lightning was created to enable lower-value instant transactions, which is also gradually gaining acceptance. However, these systems, like Bitcoin itself, are in their early stages and have limited resources. Rather than disregarding their value, we should acknowledge and appreciate them. We can contribute code to these projects and generate new ideas. Remember:

Cypherpunks Write Code.