Bluesky was announced in late 2019 by then-Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsey to develop a decentralized standard for social media and has grown to have over 3 million users.
Way to strike while the iron has been at room temperature for many months
I don't blame anyone for going to BlueSky, it does seem like it’s where the ‘cool kids’ all went to and I get it’s fun to follow your favorite bloggers, writers, podcasters, etc.
But man, it’s just gonna go into enshittification like every other platform that runs on VC cash. Eventually, they’re gonna need to monetize you and your content. And I’m just done with that nonsense personally, even if a lot of weird/left twitter went there.
I like how Dorsey waited until NOW when there's no active "fuck Elon where can we go?" campaign. He should've opened it up, even if it had some bugs, 6-12 months ago when people were actively trying to flee. But whatever.
I've got nothing to prove this, but I'm pretty sure the purpose of the invite system was not to prevent the fledgling platform from being overloaded, but to construct a social graph of people coming aboard the platform.
But can I just view a blueskeet somebody links without making an account? Because I'm not gonna make an account.
From the article
In December, Graber announced that Bluesky posts would be accessible to anyone without being logged in or having an account.
(Not a plug, just being helpful)
There's an app, on iOS and android, called "TextNow" which is totally free (with ads of course. Out the ass) that allows you to text/call over WiFi. It's not the only app, but I have tried a bunch of these, and most are total scams. This one is probably some level of a scam, but it works for getting a text-able phone number which isn't your actual number. You can keep it too if you sign in at least once per 30 days and send a text. I've here maintaining a "throw away" list phone numbers for... years... now. (Don't ask)
You could easily make a throwaway email via VPN, make an account there still via VPN, and always use the app via VPN to maintain some amount of anonymity. If you wished.
Thanks! I'm bookmarking this and may try this later.
I hate that you have to give your number to so many websites now. If other people have more tips/recommendations please reply.
I would keep a dumb phone, the kind you pre-pay minutes and text messages onto for stuff like that.
Controversial but I honestly really like BlueSky so far. It has its issues, and maybe I'm naively hopeful, but I feel like it's set up to be better than its predecessors. No harm in giving it a go, and it's easy to jump ship if it ends up going down the shitpipe like the other platforms did.
I remember the earliest ads for Twitter making it out to be this mystery product that we wouldn't know about until it was finally unveiled. Never signed on it once and nothing has been making me see the need for it now or any of its imitators.
