Bluesky is a broad network with lots of worthwhile people and conversations! I hope you’ll give it a chance. Only fully public content is bridged, not followers-only, unlisted, or otherwise private posts or profiles. Still, if you want to limit or block the bridge, I understand, the domain to block is bsky.brid.gy. Alternatively, I can also opt you out in the bridge itself. Feel free to DM me at @snarfed@indieweb.social (different account than this one), email me, file a GitHub issue, or put #nobridge in your profile bio.
Admins, likewise, if you don’t want your instance to federate with Bluesky over the bridge, the domain to limit or block is bsky.brid.gy.
A number of us have thought about this for a while now, we’re committed to making it work well for everyone, and we’re very open to feedback. Thanks for listening. Feel free to share broadly.
@snarfed.org @tchambers 😮
@snarfed.org bread thinks this should be opt in, and opt out
@snarfed.org @tchambers Holy moly “moderate people, not code” is so good. So many ideas I’ve wanted to express but you had the skill and knowledge to express them so much better than I’d have been able to!
@snarfed.org There’s lots of news accounts I follow on Bluesky but I much prefer the depth of features available on Mastodon plus Ivory is just 👌🏻
@snarfed.org @activitypubblueskybridge @fedidevs @fediversenews will you be able to e.g. reply to a Bluesky post from the Fediverse, in a way that people on Bluesky will see your reply?
@snarfed.org How would bridging affect deleted toots?
@snarfed.org Thanks for the effort. Could you make this opt-in per user/per instance instead, please?
@snarfed.org @snarfed sure wish the number of you thinking about this for a while had thought long enough to make it opt in for those interested rather than opt out for those not interested.
@snarfed.org Can’t wait Bluesky to federate and try this out!
Pagan Plus will be blocking the blue sky bridge for automaticly opting unaware users into sharing and introducing the fediverse to bluesky’s moderation problems.
@snarfed.org@snarfed.org @activitypubblueskybridge @snarfed so it will be possible to follow someone who is on Bluesky?
@snarfed.org yeah, no. no no no
@snarfed.org 🙏 Thank you! Hopefully we’ll be able to try this out soon!
@snarfed.org Holy shit. Does this affect people on other servers? Is everything I post publicly going to be on corporate social media by default now?
@snarfed.org So exciting!
@snarfed.org @activitypubblueskybridge @fedidevs @fediversenews Does this allow 2-way interaction or is it still read-only?
@guinan
@snarfed.org @activitypubblueskybridge @fedidevs @fediversenews Letting people opt-out IS NOT consent.
@snarfed.org @gogobonobo You need to make this opt IN not opt OUT. It absolutely fucking sucks that you want to force the majority of decentralized posts here into content for Jack fucking Dorsey.
@snarfed.org@snarfed.org @snarfed @activitypubblueskybridge @fedidevs @fediversenews I’m a big fan of bridges and this is the big one I’ve been eagerly waiting for. I’ll probably add it to my wizard soon after it’s available. Once the moderation issues get sorted out, I firmly believe that in the end, this will be a net positive for both networks, since Bluesky users will be able to follow and engage with the vibrant and growing communities and services here, and we’ll be able to follow and engage with shitposters from Bluesky.
The moderation issues should be sorted out promptly, and I’m a little disappointed that you’re going to open it up with little consideration about mod tooling, especially considering the lists and lists of known problematic users on Bluesky, from mere crypto-shills and scammers to bigots, transphobes, racists, fascists, and genocide supporters. I don’t have any way to find or use Bluesky’s mod lists from here so there needs to be some other way.
Plus, I’m sure Bluesky users want a way to mass-mute and mass-block bridged users, maybe even from particular instances, especially considering our ongoing tone police and reply guy problems, which have driven numerous people from here to there. I feel like this part is imminently solvable with automatically-populated moderation list(s), though.
@snarfed.org honestly fuck you. Do you really expect everybody to have enough space in their bios to opt-out of your fucking bs? How many opt-out bs am I supposed to put there?
Excited to see this working! There’s a lot of people on bluesky id love to follow, but I’d rather use fedi over bluesky. I see a lot of people pointing out issues, but rome wasn’t built in a day. I’m sure you’ll be able to figure them out in due time! Getting something, anything, done and building off that is an important part of ironing out potential issues. Thank you for your hard work and I can’t wait to see this deployed!!
@snarfed.org @activitypubblueskybridge @fedidevs @fediversenews Glad to hear it! I would prefer to have a single account that gives me access to the wider Fediverse than have to have multiple identities across multiple networks. Thanks for your work! How do we use it?
@snarfed.org if it’s complete 2 way federation that seems almost seemless, that’d be cool. If the BlueSky users are just following a phantom account, then i don’t see how it can be useful as there wouldn’t be actual interaction between the two systems.
@snarfed.org
Opt-out violates consent. Peter posts on the Fediverse, so that his friends on another Fedi instance can read his daily thoughts. He knows that there are many other people on the Fedi who can also see his posts. He is OK with that; indeed, he hopes for a wider Fedi audience. But he hates all commercial platforms, including BS. He wants his posts hidden from BS. Regardless, your bridge links Peter’s posts into BS, against his wishes and without his knowledge. Don’t!
@snarfed.org Just want to say thank you for all your work on this! I’m on BlueSky as well but not comfortable with their VC backing. It’s going to be nice to be able to interact with folks on there from my Mastodon account!
@snarfed.org
Opt-in only, or I #DomainBlock
What is that again?
bsky.brid.gy?
So noted…
I want nothing to do with #Bluesky
#NoBridge has been added to my profile
cc @activitypubblueskybridge @fedidevs @fediversenews@venera.social
Holy privacy violation, Batman!
Please change it to an opt-in function.
@snarfed.org @activitypubblueskybridge @fedidevs @fediversenews “Moderate people, not code”
You do not have the resources to moderate everything that will flow over this bridge, so you shouldn’t do it. Your project will force this work on other instance mods.
Opt-out is unethical because people aren’t aware they’re being opted-in, but also because it makes this bigger and dumps more work on other instances.
@snarfed.org Please make this opt in rather than opt out. Opt out is not consent
@snarfed.org Thank you for the bridge, looking forward to use it
@snarfed.org please, make your tool opt-out by default. and learn about the concept of consent. opt-in by default is never acceptable.
@snarfed.org Please, PLEASE, make this opt-in, not opt-out. People wanting to use this will still be able to. Making this opt-out is ignoring people’s consent.
@snarfed.org Should be opt-in by default. But it does seem you don’t really care.
@snarfed.org @activitypubblueskybridge @fedidevs @fediversenews I am excited for this, thank you for the time and effort you’re putting into building this ActivityPub <> ATproto bridge, especially the two-way communication support! I have had very poor experiences with BlueSky myself, but I have multiple friends that prefer it and just aren’t interested in Fedi. It will be amazing to be able to rebuild that part of my social circle and keep tabs with them, while still being able to utilize the filtering and timeline curation tools that only Mastodon provides right now.
@snarfed.org I don’t see how you can legally opt everyone in, forcing them to take action to opt out. I hope your attorney is on retainer, cause this sure seems like a violation of the GDPR, as well little things like TOS. This is a bad decision. Do not do this. Obviously, opt me out if you continue with this path.
@snarfed.org@fed.brid.gy @snarfed@indieweb.social Why not try opt-in instead of forcing opt-out, would be a better idea and you get less angry people that don’t want that and more public that wants to federate with them. Less drama, more happy people.
@snarfed.org @trumpet Are we defederating from this? Please tell me we’re defederating from this.
@snarfed.org @activitypubblueskybridge @fedidevs @fediversenews
So,
if me or other trans* individuals, or other marginalized groups (many of whom I’m sure will never see your post with the genuinely shit opt-out option) are harassed or otherwise receive uninvited abuse and commentary through your bridge, are you prepared to face legal challenges brought against you?
@snarfed.org@fed.brid.gy @snarfed@indieweb.social why
@snarfed.org@fed.brid.gy @snarfed@indieweb.social I’d just like to add my voice to the users expressing frustration that this is opt-out instead of opt-in. A lot of the reason a number of us are on the Fediverse instead of the corporate silos such as bluesky is because we want control of where our data is going. I know that’s like playing whack a mole to a degree, but we have a lot more control on Fedi. Making something opt-out errodes that control and enshittifies this experience for everyone.
This needs to be Opt-In, not Opt-out, because not everyone is going to get this boosted into their timeline before someone tries to connect with them via your bridge.
@snarfed.org
100% do not want if the feed is only one-way. Two way is something I would consider, but broken is broken.
@snarfed.org This should be opt-in, not opt-out. The vast majority of the Fediverse statistically doesn’t follow you, and may never see your post even if it’s boosted – how will they know to ask to be opted out?
Your intentions are good but misguided. Please opt me out – if I want to interact with Bluesky, I’ll do it myself. Thanks!
@snarfed.org@fed.brid.gy @snarfed@indieweb.social @activitypubblueskybridge@venera.social @fedidevs@venera.social @fediversenews@venera.social Cool! Looks interesting, sucks you are getting some piss poor negative feedback but the Fediverse does like to hurt itself pretty bad with stuff like this. I hope everything goes smoothly. Don’t take the fedi mob seriously.
@snarfed.org@fed.brid.gy @snarfed@indieweb.social Please make this opt-in, not opt-out. As others have mentioned, opt out is not consent, and you can’t expect everyone to know this is happening to know to opt out. Do what you like, but make it opt in.
@snarfed.org@fed.brid.gy @snarfed@indieweb.social This is awesome! I can’t wait.
@snarfed.org @activitypubblueskybridge @fedidevs @fediversenews
I want to OPT OUT please.
#NoBridge for me.
This should have been an OPT-IN only
@snarfed.org Of course you’re a white dude. Only a white dude can spend 12 years building social networks and fail to learn anything.
Not everyone has your fucking threat model. You are literally going to hurt marginalized people with your stupid toy.
Stop everything and spend a few years learning consent and how to not enable fascist pieces of shits.
@snarfed.org i don’t want anything to do with this and i’m not putting some shit in my profile to help enable your weird “just opt out!” philosophy
@snarfed.org @activitypubblueskybridge @fedidevs @fediversenews this should be opt in, not opt out
@snarfed.org this will harm people. OptOut is immoral and wrong.
@snarfed.org interested about that Bridge. I use more #Bluesky than #Mastodon. Create a bridge between the fediverse and the other protocol is a nice idea.
@snarfed.org thanks for the heads-up! Blocked the domain on the server level. Centralized corporate social media always goes to shit, so it’s nice to block it out from day 1.
@snarfed.org @activitypubblueskybridge
Making this on an opt-out basis was a horrible, horrible decision. Please opt me out, and never, ever, include me in any future bridges.
@snarfed.org@snarfed.org I would actually choose to opt in, if you had done this as opt-in. Doing it opt-out, though, really leaves a bad taste in my mouth…
@snarfed.org Congrats on your work. BUT, not everyone would make the same choices you have about where their data ends up. Be a considerate member of the community and respect that many users here have made very deliberate choices NOT to join Bluesky, Threads and whatever mess big tech throws up next. Have you considered the moderation issues, the privacy issues, the GDPR issues and the not being a dick issues at all?!
@snarfed.org@fed.brid.gy @snarfed@indieweb.social you’re gonna hammer our dinky little fedi servers unless we file the proper paperwork? :(
@snarfed.org build bridges not walls is great! being able to add #nobridge to individual profiles seems like a reasonable way for folks to opt out. Thanks for all your work!
@snarfed.org @activitypubblueskybridge @fedidevs @fediversenews Please make this opt-in.
@snarfed.org @activitypubblueskybridge @fedidevs @fediversenews
Such a service should be opt-in only, for the handful of folks who DO want their content used to generate traffic for Bluesky.
As I’m not one of those people, I am notifying you that I am opting out. It’d be nice if that request was honored, but realistically I know it won’t be.
So fuck you.
@snarfed.org This is a gross misuse of the fediverse.
Reconsider and make this opt in only.
What is the user agent and IP you use for crawling the fediverse?
https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://snarfed.org/ This is a gross misuse of the fediverse.
Reconsider and make this opt in only.
What is the user agent and IP you use for crawling?
@snarfed.org
Please be respectful and make it opt-out.
@activitypubblueskybridge @fedidevs @fediversenews
@snarfed.org @activitypubblueskybridge @fedidevs @fediversenews A lot of people are upset about this but ya’ll know, straight up, if your feed is live & people not auth’d can read your server feed you don’t have privacy. Mastodon and the fediverse in general never said anything about expectations of privacy.
Snarfed here could have been a bad actor and never told you anything and as far as I know it’s in the clear.
If you don’t like it, block the bridge and move on.
@snarfed.org
If people WANTED to be on another commercial network, they would have signed up for that.
No one has given you permission to copy our data to a commercial site that we have not signed the TOS.
Using peoples creativity and data on other commercial sites.
How dare you.
@snarfed.org @activitypubblueskybridge @fedidevs @fediversenews This should be opt-in, not opt-out. BlueSky doesn’t use ActivityPub and, therefore, the tools users have to protect themselves on Mastodon are incompatible with your bridge.
I’ll be talking with the other moderators and admins of furry-focused servers to inform them of this new risk to marginalized users and I’m confident they’ll be taking appropriate actions to keep our communities safe.
@snarfed.org you should not be setting this up as opt-out
I didn’t consent to be part of your experiment, and if I wanted an account on some other network I’d have one
Thank you all for the feedback, both good and bad. I knew I’d hear some pushback that this should be opt in instead of opt out, and I obviously did. I’ve also had some useful conversations and ideas on how to bridge (ahem 😄) that gap and make opt in more realistically usable, along with a few interesting compromise points between opt in and opt out. I’m grateful to everyone today who engaged and talked constructively and offered those new techniques. It’s very possible that this will land somewhere along that spectrum other than fully opt out.
I had plenty of work to do already before launch, and now I have a number of other important ideas to explore too. That’s great! I really do appreciate it. I’ll definitely check back in well before this launches.
I don’t quite understand why the linked post only tells instance admins to limit or block ‘bsky.brid.gy’ and users to use a hashtag; users can block instances too.
@snarfed.org @activitypubblueskybridge @fedidevs @fediversenews
This need to be opt in, not opt out! What the heck were you thinking? I suppose this makes sense if Bluesky is paying you…
@snarfed.org no
@fedidevs @activitypubblueskybridge @fediversenews @snarfed.org
This is bad news. Don’t do it. You seem to have decided that everyone should be subjected to your brilliant idea.
@snarfed.org From what I know about ActivityPub, the “activityPubish” way to do that is:
Each instance gets own account like @bsky.app@instance.name, which is used for opt-in of bridging by explicitly following it, and also, for registering auth keys/setup for flows like “sign in with Mastodon” at bsky.app.
@snarfed.org @activitypubblueskybridge @fedidevs @fediversenews
Wow. This is just such an epically bad call. I can’t imagine reading the room this badly.
ANY privacy advocate you talk to – and I really suggest you talk to a few – will give you the burning side-eye for thinking you have the right to force folks to opt out.
And you should definitely look into the fact that you may be violating the GDPR. Someone else certainly will.
@snarfed.org@fed.brid.gy @snarfed@indieweb.social Wow, the quantity of negative reactions and how quickly they appear is interesting.
Brigading also exists on the Fediverse, that’s for sure. It’s interesting and sad to see it coming from people who blame other platforms for such behaviors.
@snarfed.org This is great news! I’m very excited. 👏
This is similar to your feed reader (a foreign network protocol) subscribing to the RSS feed of your Mastodon account.
It’s open. The rules of the protocol are being followed. There is no opt-in for that RSS feed — other than turning on “request to follow” in your Mastodon account.
@snarfed.org First, sorry you’re getting such strong language in response.
I’ve written up an attempt at an explanation and an analogy to RSS as another foreign protocol.
https://toolsforthought.social/@boris/111922205277220169
I think it’s going to be helpful if you call this a “bridge instance” to help situate it into the AP model.
Good luck!
@boris as for the RSS comparison, I was unaware that people could reply to your RSS feed?
@smallpatatas it’s an example of not respecting the “request to follow” that’s in Mastodon. RSS still available even if you have that setting set.