The Unceasing Drama of Social Media
There’s a bit of a kerfuffle on Bluesky over moderation, leading to a little mini-exodus of people (as these things usually do). Familiar enough sight at this point. I’m not going to get into it because other people have done a better job (post one, post two). The short form is that the moderation policies at Bluesky seem to be asymmetrically applied across the political spectrum, generally to the advantage of right-wing members.
It's hard to have a good view from inside the system, so I'm not sure how accurate that is. The admin team doesn't seem to take moderation seriously, though – sort of like Facebook and Twitter before them – so I doubt they are doing a good or a fair job. But even when you do a good or a fair job you're going to get raked over the coals by the folks who feel persecuted.
I did community moderation for a brief stint. I hope never to do it again, and it's not a job I wish on anyone.
The Mastodon / Bluesky divide
I am on both services. Lots of people are, but they seem to be mostly on one and duplicating their posts on the other. When I update my blog I'll post the same content on both, but generally I have one voice for Bluesky and another for Mastodon. My Mastodon community tends to be more interested in conversation and more likely to engage in nuance. That's not the universal experience with Mastodon, but that's because the Mastodon experience depends pretty heavily on what server you choose and how you set up your own filters.
My purpose on Bluesky is mostly to shout into the void and follow what the old-timey Twitter people used to derisively call "broadcasters" – people who post a lot but interact little. For me that's, like, the guys from Rifftrax, a bunch of web development celebrities, news outlets, and silly accounts that push pictures of cats or long-dead Hollywood stars.
Most of the people I know who used to post on Mastodon but decamped for more centralized options did so for at least one of two reasons:
- They had broadcaster intentions; that is, they were looking to build a large audience. Mastodon makes this difficult, almost by design.
- They wanted to consume a feed, not construct one.
And that's fine; not all social media platforms are for everyone. And Mastodon really sucks for audience-building, and least beyond a certain size.
But if you go looking for big social media with a curated feed you are absolutely putting yourself in the hands of the people doing the curating. Bluesky was started by the famously anti-moderation Jack Dorsey. Current CEO Jay Graber has a history in cryptocurrency. None of this was secret. To a certain extent, it feels like one would have to cultivate a sense of betrayal in order to feel betrayed.
But even on Mastodon, it seems like social-media political activity centers on who is allowed to speak, where the Overton window sits, and just how big or small it's allowed to be. It's just on Mastodon the damage can be pretty limited. Whereas on centralized, big-audience social media, the owners are always going to win.
