Bluesky Migration

As I pondered what I was going to rant about today, something weird happened on Bluesky. Suddenly it got a huge influx of new users. Not only that, a couple people I know online joined. And that got me thinking.

I don't know exactly when I joined Bluesky. My first skeet* is dated October 16, 2023. So, it was likely a day or two before that. When I first joined, I did not know what to do with the platform. It was new. A wide open space.

I am not an expert. I dabble. A little. I scroll. But, I have picked up a few things that new users might want to know, and so I'm including those here in the hopes that you'll join me. My user name is @zizirho.bsky.social if you do happen to find your way over there.

First, there's an unofficial ID check. It's #ProofOfCat. Post a picture of your cat with the hashtag (as well as the name of the cat and/or something interesting about said cat). Sadly, I have no cat, so I have not done this. Some users have posted pics of their dogs in lieu of #ProofOfCat. 

Next, make sure to set your feed to "Following". One of the problems in the other places is the algorithm will feed you posts that you might not want to interact with. If you keep it on "Following", you'll only see skeets* from those you are following. 

Until you have a robust list of people you are following, you can use the "Discover" feed. With the influx of people, several users have created "Starter Packs" to help newbies find good feeds to follow. They've also created a few starter packs of feeds not to follow, but they are labeled as such.

Not to follow? That brings me to one of the lovely things on Bluesky--the nuclear block.

If you block someone on Bluesky, you never have to think of them again. It blocks them so you never have to see them again. It also makes you disappear from their feeds, so they can't see you. One big issue on other sites is how those who want to harass you can find ways around a block to get back to you. Here, they can't. 

(If you hit "subscribe" on a starter pack, you are given the option of blocking that entire list. Useful tool.)

And finally, if you find a skeet* or a thread you want to "pin", you can "quote post" and put an emoji pin in it. That collects your pinned posts in a handy spot to find them again. (I haven't quite gotten the hang of this, but I'm assured it works.)

Oh, it turns out there are some other ways you can scroll. I found this while finding skeets* to add to this post: 

I'm rather surprised I had as much to write about as all of this. I'm hardly an expert. But I find that Bluesky is where I spend most of my time scrolling nowadays. I hope you'll join me. 

And another helpful graphic:

(If you're looking for a "what if?" post, I have suspended them. Temporarily? I'm not sure right now.)

*Skeet is not the official name. There's a debate as to what to call posts. Someone on the anti side advocated against in the perfect way to make everyone else adopt the term, so it's probably going to stay.