The Bluesky Flame

I had and have reservations about Bluesky. I worry about the venture capitalists funding the site and I worry about the community on the site. Today I wrote a post that was meant to show empathy but it got me flamed. The flames were just two posts, but that flame is enough for me to deactivate my account, at least until the flamers have given up.

I was flamed like that on Twitter in 2020 or so, and on the Fediverse more than once, which is why I almost gave up on the Fediverse. My blog is still there but I devote very little time to the site.

Today I was flamed for showing empathy. I meant to be empathetic but due to the baggage that the person had they flamed me, and another person flamed me. These are people that are targeted because of their identity. They have a chip on their shoulder. If I had checked the profile I would never have commented, because I know of their tendency to misread what was written and flame.

What makes flaming on Bsky, Twitter and Mastodon so bad is that we have no defence against flamewars, other than to deactivate our accounts. On Bluesky we can hide for all, and block people. On Bluesky we can’t. We have no way of defending ourselves.