And there it is, monetization before decentralization. #Bluesky
They're selling domains. I knew it.
3:59 . a Post Bluesky @bsky.app • 1h We raised an $8M seed round led by Neo, with participation from other seasoned allies who want to help us realize our vision of an open commons for public conversation. With this funding, we can expand our team, manage increasing ops & infra costs, and grow the AT Protocol ecosystem & Bluesky app.
Bluesky @bsky.app • 1h We're excited to share our first paid service! We're partnering with Namecheap to provide easy custom domain management. With this, you can easily set a custom domain as your Bluesky handle and much more. Simply navigate to account.bsky.app to get started. ® Domains & Support @aliceshay@aliceshay social $11.98 @aliceshay.com $14.58 @aliceshay.net $16.98 PASt STO @aliceshay.cloud $9.98 Renews at 526 98/vr Purchase and Manage Domains Directly Through Bluesky https://blueskyweb.xyz/blog/7-05-2. We're excited to announce a new feature that allows users to seamles...
@phillycodehound
They're a for profit corporation exactly like Twitter. That actually is a bad thing when it comes to providing what users need versus a bottom line.
@noondlyt You can use your own domain now for free. They're just getting a spiff from name cheap if you buy a domain. Honestly that's not very sinister.
@mike
It's not sinister it's about the priority. The post also says "First" as in not last and a for profit venture is highly problematic considering the reason Bluesky even has users. Big Picture.
@noondlyt I'm down with hating on Bluesky for a variety of reasons, but hating on them for this one seems really weird. I am open to arguments as to why this is unobviously bad, but on the face of it, it's the most benign business model I can think of.
@siderea
This isn't what Jack talked about when he talked about blue sky a year ago. There's no transparency. And decentralization was supposed to be the priority not profit.
@siderea
I am not complaining. I am making an observation that the priorities are not what Jack laid out last year. We are currently on an established decentralized platform that is run without corporate money. It is the lack of transparency and the change in priorities along with Jack's recent behavior on Twitter that is sending up red flags. It looks like Twitter 2.0.
@noondlyt I thought the whole point of Bluesky was precisely to be Twitter 2.0? I'm mystified where your sense of Bluesky's priorities is coming from. You're going on like you're terribly, terribly betrayed that Bluesky, a platform founded by the very same corporate sphincter who founded Twitter in the first place, to be an incorporated commercial platform, has turned out to be... corporate just like Twitter was and how they were promising everyone it would be?
Look, if you're only now realizing what has been wrong with Bluesky all along, and for some reason you heretofore actually thought it was going to be an upstanding member of the Fediverse, I am sorry for what you're going through, but maybe in the future be a little less credulous about the tech projects of known capitalist douchebags?
@siderea
Calm down. I have been posting about this since last year on Twitter. I am not betrayed by anyone. I am here on this platform making observations. But thank you for sweeping in to mollify me. Your tone is condescending so you might check that baggage at the door.
@noondlyt I mean I think this mostly makes sense. You can have a domain as your username and you can use either an existing domain or get a new one (I have my domain as my username for example). I don’t think that this is necessarily antithetical to decentralization.
@tariq It's not but it demonstrates that they are concerned first with making money and second or third with a decentralized platform. This is not what Jack talked about a year ago. Decentralization is not the priority.
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