The more I learn about it, the more I start to suspect that even if the bluesky protocol somehow outlives Bluesky Incorporated it will remain a trap created by a billionaire which by design will never fail to be mostly centralised in its operation. Will this new organization see the danger and make their version federate properly? I’ll believe it when I see it.
For one thing the “AppView” as I believe it’s called. When I looked at the whole system a month or two ago the documentation wasn’t great at giving a clear high-level overview and the details are hazy in my memory. It’s at least as hard to figure out as the constellation of protocols used in conjuction with ActivityPub. Among other potential problems the protocol layer that would allow it to be fully decentralized is just missing. If it was there, I think it might look something like ActivityPub added on top of what already exists.
The more I learn about it, the more I start to suspect that even if the bluesky protocol somehow outlives Bluesky Incorporated it will remain a trap created by a billionaire which by design will never fail to be mostly centralised in its operation. Will this new organization see the danger and make their version federate properly? I’ll believe it when I see it.
Which parts of the protocol’s design are mostly centralized?
Design isn’t centralised but the implementation and tooling currently are
https://alice.bsky.sh/post/3laega7icmi2q
For one thing the “AppView” as I believe it’s called. When I looked at the whole system a month or two ago the documentation wasn’t great at giving a clear high-level overview and the details are hazy in my memory. It’s at least as hard to figure out as the constellation of protocols used in conjuction with ActivityPub. Among other potential problems the protocol layer that would allow it to be fully decentralized is just missing. If it was there, I think it might look something like ActivityPub added on top of what already exists.
From my browser history here’s one attempt to sum it up: https://dustycloud.org/blog/how-decentralized-is-bluesky/