Mastodon and Bluesky

Just did a quick scan of my local Cleveland area Mastodon connections, and quite a few haven't posted since 2024.  Many of those are active on Bluesky.  Based on their posts and shares there, it looks like there's a pretty decent Cleveland local scene, at least for the material I sought on twitter (urbanism, community organizations, local journalism, local politics, sports).

I have resisted creating an account there, because at it's core Bluesky just another Silicon Valley startup play (created by Jack Dorsey) and we all know where that road leads.  Yes, it is supposedly based on a decentralization protocol, but until that is realized by other interoperating systems owned by other people, the AT protocol is just talk and Bluesky remains a walled garden.

On the other hand, Nature reports a big shift of science users from Twitter to Bluesky, and this aligns with what I hear from other academics and journalists.

⬅️ ➡️ I'm really feeling the tension between living my principles on masto and connecting with local peers elsewhere.