The pile-on culture of Bluesky is why I only posted once in all of 2025. I wish Twitter’s collapse hadn’t coincided with Bluesky’s rise. It would probably be a very different platform now.

FYI: I am going to stop summarizing Supreme Court decisions on here as they come down. One comment has been plucked out of context of all my reporting, misread, and used as the basis of a mean-spirited pile-on. I am not going to subject myself to this. If this was your goal, then congratulations.

Maybe before we conclude the only way to achieve the world we want to live in is targeted killings in the streets we could think about why 90 million eligible voters chose not to participate in US elections last month? That’s 12x the total population of the swing state I live in (Arizona).

This could be a game-changer for a lot of folks.

Both Republicans and Democrats think they represent 51%+ of the country and anyone not part of their group comprises the opposition. In reality they each represent ~30% of the population which leaves 40% of the population who see no material benefit every time they justify a partisan behavior.

Smarter people than me have made this point but lots of people who aren’t well-connected face an uncertain future under a Trump presidency. What norms is Biden willing to violate on their behalf in the last few weeks of his presidency?

I hate this attitude so much. Plenty of us who have opposed Trump every step of the way hate this. If you can’t be better than Trump just own it. Stop excusing corruption.

It’s pretty crazy that Bluesky has 20+ million users. I really hope the growth continues. AT protocol should be the future of social media.

notgreatbob.gif

Couldn’t see the comet but I got this nice shot of the moon

Bluesky is a better *platform* than threads but I'm absolutely willing to concede that the community is too toxic to thrive. If Bluesky were to really act like a profit maximizing business it might consider just banning a bunch of the worst offenders.

I think Bluesky still has the potential to be a great product. But too many of its users don’t believe having a variety of perspectives is a positive

Here’s something nobody wants to hear: The idea that US presidents could target Americans in a drone strike was already successfully argued in court by the Obama administration in 2014. www.scotusblog.com/2014/04/dron...

I had a lot of hope for Bluesky. But it’s turned out to be a very frustrating echo chamber. There are some really cool uses of AI that will improve people’s lives. But just saying that feels like it will get most people here to block you.

Just shouted out @ositanwanevu.bsky.social and his point that ordinary people have been basically the only ones to hold Trump to account.

Bluey has done it again. “The Sign” might be the best episode of a kids TV show I’ve ever seen.

I was just about to stop recording the eclipse because of clouds, but I happened to be exactly in the right place to capture a ‘transiting’ plane. 🔭🧪

Breaking news: The Biden administration greenlights more bombs and warplanes for Israel despite widening rift with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The most positive spin I can put on this is that including alt text is an easy way to make your account stand out. For those who don’t know there is a setting you can toggle on so you can’t forget

MLB’s investigation into Shohei Ohtani is sponsored by FanDuel. Use code GAMBLINGISBAD for $200 in free bets

It’s sort of interesting to me how everyone is making fun of Texas and nobody is making fun of the company that was forced to have an independent monitor to make sure they weren’t taking part in sex trafficking

Props to Reuters here: it's significantly harder to report on cyber or influence campaigns that the US uses against China or Russia than the other way around (link won't preview on Bluesky but it's worth it) www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...

The performative aspects of politics get too much attention. We’d have much better presidents and members of Congress if we didn’t place the most emphasis on the things that matter least. #SOTU

Facebook, Instagram and Threads are all down in massive Meta outage on Super Tuesday

It’s cool how all of YouTube is funded by lying about the security of public WiFi. But it pays for videos about battleships and trains so keep it up suckers.

Really wish @wyden.senate.gov were my Senator. He’s been such a consistent and important voice on surveillance issues. www.wyden.senate.gov/news/press-r...

One of the worst parts about social media is so many people follow you with no intent to ever engage with you or consider your perspective. In an effort to get some of those people to unfollow/block me, I’ll just make a thread of things I believe:

The responses to this post let me know I’ll never belong here on Bluesky. I’m a believer in the ability of technology to solve problems. Human-driven cars have been killing people for decades and will continue to do so if the vandals get their way.

Last week CNN asked me how I explain the downturn in the news industry: big layoffs, scant investment, no recovery in sight. A list of factors is not an explanation, I said. But that is what I have. So here's my thread. None of it should be news to people in the business. 0/

Of the 600,000 people facing starvation globally, 95 percent now live in Gaza, according to the IPC.

So, after spending nine years riding shotgun with a drunk driver and spending three years trying to get that drunk driver sober, the US has resolved to down a handle of vodka and get behind the wheel itself www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

Just got the Dwarf 2 telescope yesterday and I can already tell it’s going to be a blast. This is my attempt to image the Andromeda galaxy. 🔭

“If” “a narrative”

Please sanitize your YouTube links! Reposted with alt text:

I would love to be at the meeting where companies decide whether to call the tab on their website advertising open positions “Jobs” or “Careers”. It feels like there should be some kind of correlation between the type of company they are and which term they use but I haven’t noticed one yet.

I know this isn’t fair but if you use any of the following phrases I can’t agree with whatever point you’re making: -“x for thee, but not for me” -“that’s a feature, not a bug” -“saying the quiet part out loud”

!jazbot findmeafriend

I want federation. I’ve wanted it since Bluesky was just a Twitter side-project. I think Bluesky getting a bunch of people on here looking for Twitter with different people in charge has been a net negative. I want to see people building cool clients and custom feeds. I’m over the complaining.

every poster thinks they are casually sharing their passing thoughts; every replier thinks they are critiquing a manifesto

If you’re into stand-up comedy I recommend “Happy Face” by Ryan Hamilton on Netflix. I re-watched last night and by coincidence saw this story about the craziness he’s gone through the last little while. https://www.deseret.com/entertainment/2023/7/24/23766273/ryan-hamilton-comedian-netflix-bus

I wrote a thing about gravitational waves but it's a little intimidating to post it here, where actual cosmologists are looking 😅 Anyway did you know that gravitational waves can kick a newly merged pair of supermassive black holes completely out of their host galaxy? I kinda find that terrifying!

Maybe I’m too optimistic but I still think Bluesky’s/ATproto’s best days are ahead of us. If you use Threads or Twitter it’s clear there are still lots of people desperate for alternatives. It’s crazy that people have to beg to have more control over their timeline.

everyday, people come up to me and ask "but jerry, what exactly are feeds?"* here's my write-up: https://goodfeeds.co/the-guide * zero people have done this

People who have been hurt deserve to be heard. But the people who are tagging and harassing devs, going after Bluesky’s investors, and are engaging in all sorts of abusive behavior are not going to improve anything.

https://twexit.nl/ log in (with an app password from Settings) then search for your profile and it'll have a thing saying what mute lists you're on