7 ms·

I never got a Bluesky invite and I've seen a couple comments mentioning "it's not ready" so I'm wondering why people keep saying that? It has been in developmen

I never got a Bluesky invite and I've seen a couple comments mentioning "it's not ready" so I'm wondering why people keep saying that? It has been in development for a while, so I would assume it is ready at this point in time.

firecall 3y ago
You arnt missing anything :-)
delecti 3y ago
Bluesky feels like a beta. It's missing: DMs, private accounts, gif/video embeds, and any sort of advanced notification controls. They don't have a trust and safety team, and they're using the invite system to slow down their growth because they can't keep up with demand. It's fun at its current small scale, but they aren't ready to be a Twitter replacement yet.
- skiman10 3y ago
  The invite system just really gives off Google+ vibes and I'm wondering if we end up in the same place after Threads launches. Facebook/Meta seems really poised to eat Bluesky's lunch in a few days.
  - depereo 3y ago
    Gmail also had invites to start, back in the day, and that's the de facto email service now. But that had a compelling day-1 offering that was clearly better - massive free storage allocation. Bluesky doesn't have a compelling reason to sign up like that, so the invite system feels flawed.
    - Semaphor 3y ago
      Gmail also had so much hype around it, invites were sold online (I paid ~1.10€ or something on eBay). ~~Blusky, not so much.~~
      - mminer237 3y ago
        I see a lot of Bluesky invites that have sold on Ebay today. For ~$20 too.
        Semaphor 3y ago
        Huh. Not only correct, they were selling for ~200 in May. Do people actually talk about bluesky outside of HN? I never heard of it anywhere else.
        zimpenfish 3y ago
        > Do people actually talk about bluesky outside of HN? I see a bunch of people talking about it on Twitter in the context of "I'm on Bluesky, follow me there in case this implodes". But yeah, >90% of the Bluesky mentions I see are on HN.
    - hyperhopper 3y ago
      - Gmail had killer features that made even moving desirable. - Email is federated so there is much less cost to switch providers where you can still receive and send from others. No stickiness factor This is why Gmail succeeded and g+ failed
    - lmm 3y ago
      GMail's invite system worked because you could use GMail to talk to your non-GMail friends. G+ failed for many reasons, but one of them is that if you got in before all your friends there was just nothing you could actually do there.
    - ulfw 3y ago
      Gmail was so much better than competing services at the time (in terms of storage) and also this was almost 20 years ago. Different world, different internet, different userbase.
  - gopher_space 3y ago
    Facebook exists because they started off as .edu only.
  - pndy 3y ago
    I'd expect that Bluesky would launch invites in next few days or so, to those who left their emails. I mean, their competitor is up so why not sent these invites or even open registration for anyone Unless of course they first want to see how much interest it gains
- fomine3 3y ago
  Loginwall is what I really dislike about Bluesky. Is it temporaly or design?
firecall 3y ago
I just checked, I have some invite codes! I’ll DM you! EDIT: realised you can’t DM on HN How can I send a code to you? If you want one that is, you might not be bothered :-) EDIT EDIT: I’m using the Hack App on my Phone, I think maybe I can DM followers from the desktop site?
- skiman10 3y ago
  Sure, thanks! Seems like an interesting platform. skiman10 at duck.com Not sure on the DM stuff, if you figure it out let me know!
  - firecall 3y ago
    On your email! Apologies for the delay! I'm all out of codes now - If I get anymore, I'll share them here. I didnt realise at first there were so many requests! :-)
    - skiman10 3y ago
      Thank you!
  - dotcoma 3y ago
    Would love an invite, thank you! 6ndpn1zk AT duck.com
    - firecall 3y ago
      I'm out, if I get more, I'll come dish them out :-)
    - Vaskerville 3y ago
      I can't resist - I've been trying to get an invite for awhile now. Thanks! zhym4g7v AT duck.com
      - firecall 3y ago
astrange 3y ago
If it was ready I assume they'd take the invite wall down. I haven't got one either yet so don't know its state.
gochi 3y ago
It's not a large team, and it's very barebones in terms of features, like DMs. They also weren't ready for the small boom in users trying to sign up the other day, so networking is still a concern for them. Also they haven't been working directly on the app itself this entire time, they also created a new protocol due to Jack's desire to re-evaluate everything rather than "create a twitter clone".
lapcat 3y ago
It's not. Bluesky is still quite primitive. I wouldn't even call it a "beta", more like an alpha. They gave invite codes to some "influencers", and it got a lot of hype and media attention, but after the hype died down somewhat, it's become basically a nothing burger. I've stopped giving out the invite codes that I'm accumulating, because my feed is pretty boring and dead. Bluesky is far more "promise" than reality. Meta has 1000x the engineering resources of Bluesky.
- biggestfan 3y ago
  You should post any codes you have here, I imagine the HN userbase is more likely than most to be interested in trying a project like that out (or maybe it's just me :))
  - lapcat 3y ago
    I already have plenty of people interested in the codes. But when new people arrive and look around, they tend to lose interest just like I did.
    - skiman10 3y ago
      So instead of sending out your invite codes to diversify the user base to generate more content, you will instead not distribute the codes?
      - lapcat 3y ago
        > diversify the user base to generate more content That's an incorrect assumption. I've given out codes before. It didn't generate more content, because people quickly lose interest. The grass is not greener on the other side. It's a dead party. Inviting a few more people isn't going to help. If they open up the gates to everyone, that's a different story, but they're not nearly ready to do that.
        skiman10 3y ago
elliotec 3y ago
I feel like the fact you can’t even use it yet because you don’t have an invite is exactly why it isn’t ready yet.
- skiman10 3y ago
  Well sure, but to be fair they let a lot of "influencers" on some sort of working platform and it got a lot of hype, but since then... You don't hear much anymore. I was just wondering what was going on, they've been working on it for a while now.
  - depereo 3y ago
    I've heard most of the discussion on the platform is 'meta' discussion about bluesky itself, rather than anything interesting.
    - sokz 3y ago
      My experience with mastodon was the same for a while until Elon took over twitter. Now I do see discussions on stuff I care about although I am starting to see discussions regarding the threat of Meta federating with some big instances of mastodon.
      - depereo 3y ago
        Yeah, seemed like a lot of chatter from people onboarding Mastodon was 'how does this work' or 'how do I use it to build and find community or news' or 'why this is better than other options'. That seemed to fade fast on an individual basis once there was critical mass to support conversation on other shared interests between users but flares up again from time to time when a new 'wave' of people join. Maybe bluesky just lacks critical mass for user interest overlap other than 'being on bluesky'.
    - skiman10 3y ago
      I think this right here is what makes me curious about Bluesky in the first place, the meta discussion on HN about it is weird and I want to see it for myself.
shivz45 3y ago
Bluesky is where ppl bash twitter and no other comments
- lapcat 3y ago
  > Bluesky is where ppl bash twitter and and Mastodon.
- delecti 3y ago
  There's definitely some of that, but it's a minority. Most people are just enjoying being weird and horny on a new platform.
pferde 3y ago
Apparently, (at least some) content creators like it better than Mastodon already. See https://drewdevault.com/2023/06/30/Social-and-parasocial-media.html https://drewdevault.com/2023/06/30/Social-and-parasocial-med...
jug 3y ago
I think it's too barebones and they are still working out the moderation and safety problem. Besides, it looks like it scales like shit. It's not ready for wide adoption, I have to agree about this one.
dbbk 3y ago
The UI sucks.
- skiman10 3y ago
  This is a new one I haven't seen before, could you go into more detail?

firecall 3y ago

You arnt missing anything :-)

delecti 3y ago

Bluesky feels like a beta. It's missing: DMs, private accounts, gif/video embeds, and any sort of advanced notification controls. They don't have a trust and safety team, and they're using the invite system to slow down their growth because they can't keep up with demand. It's fun at its current small scale, but they aren't ready to be a Twitter replacement yet.

skiman10 3y ago
The invite system just really gives off Google+ vibes and I'm wondering if we end up in the same place after Threads launches. Facebook/Meta seems really poised to eat Bluesky's lunch in a few days.
- depereo 3y ago
  Gmail also had invites to start, back in the day, and that's the de facto email service now. But that had a compelling day-1 offering that was clearly better - massive free storage allocation. Bluesky doesn't have a compelling reason to sign up like that, so the invite system feels flawed.
  - Semaphor 3y ago
    Gmail also had so much hype around it, invites were sold online (I paid ~1.10€ or something on eBay). ~~Blusky, not so much.~~
    - mminer237 3y ago
      I see a lot of Bluesky invites that have sold on Ebay today. For ~$20 too.
      - Semaphor 3y ago
        Huh. Not only correct, they were selling for ~200 in May. Do people actually talk about bluesky outside of HN? I never heard of it anywhere else.
        zimpenfish 3y ago
        > Do people actually talk about bluesky outside of HN? I see a bunch of people talking about it on Twitter in the context of "I'm on Bluesky, follow me there in case this implodes". But yeah, >90% of the Bluesky mentions I see are on HN.
  - hyperhopper 3y ago
    - Gmail had killer features that made even moving desirable. - Email is federated so there is much less cost to switch providers where you can still receive and send from others. No stickiness factor This is why Gmail succeeded and g+ failed
  - lmm 3y ago
    GMail's invite system worked because you could use GMail to talk to your non-GMail friends. G+ failed for many reasons, but one of them is that if you got in before all your friends there was just nothing you could actually do there.
  - ulfw 3y ago
    Gmail was so much better than competing services at the time (in terms of storage) and also this was almost 20 years ago. Different world, different internet, different userbase.
- gopher_space 3y ago
  Facebook exists because they started off as .edu only.
- pndy 3y ago
  I'd expect that Bluesky would launch invites in next few days or so, to those who left their emails. I mean, their competitor is up so why not sent these invites or even open registration for anyone Unless of course they first want to see how much interest it gains
fomine3 3y ago
Loginwall is what I really dislike about Bluesky. Is it temporaly or design?

firecall 3y ago

I just checked, I have some invite codes! I’ll DM you! EDIT: realised you can’t DM on HN How can I send a code to you? If you want one that is, you might not be bothered :-) EDIT EDIT: I’m using the Hack App on my Phone, I think maybe I can DM followers from the desktop site?

skiman10 3y ago
Sure, thanks! Seems like an interesting platform. skiman10 at duck.com Not sure on the DM stuff, if you figure it out let me know!
- firecall 3y ago
  On your email! Apologies for the delay! I'm all out of codes now - If I get anymore, I'll share them here. I didnt realise at first there were so many requests! :-)
  - skiman10 3y ago
    Thank you!
- dotcoma 3y ago
  Would love an invite, thank you! 6ndpn1zk AT duck.com
  - firecall 3y ago
    I'm out, if I get more, I'll come dish them out :-)
  - Vaskerville 3y ago
    I can't resist - I've been trying to get an invite for awhile now. Thanks! zhym4g7v AT duck.com
    - firecall 3y ago

astrange 3y ago

If it was ready I assume they'd take the invite wall down. I haven't got one either yet so don't know its state.

gochi 3y ago

It's not a large team, and it's very barebones in terms of features, like DMs. They also weren't ready for the small boom in users trying to sign up the other day, so networking is still a concern for them. Also they haven't been working directly on the app itself this entire time, they also created a new protocol due to Jack's desire to re-evaluate everything rather than "create a twitter clone".

lapcat 3y ago

It's not. Bluesky is still quite primitive. I wouldn't even call it a "beta", more like an alpha. They gave invite codes to some "influencers", and it got a lot of hype and media attention, but after the hype died down somewhat, it's become basically a nothing burger. I've stopped giving out the invite codes that I'm accumulating, because my feed is pretty boring and dead. Bluesky is far more "promise" than reality. Meta has 1000x the engineering resources of Bluesky.

biggestfan 3y ago
You should post any codes you have here, I imagine the HN userbase is more likely than most to be interested in trying a project like that out (or maybe it's just me :))
- lapcat 3y ago
  I already have plenty of people interested in the codes. But when new people arrive and look around, they tend to lose interest just like I did.
  - skiman10 3y ago
    So instead of sending out your invite codes to diversify the user base to generate more content, you will instead not distribute the codes?
    - lapcat 3y ago
      > diversify the user base to generate more content That's an incorrect assumption. I've given out codes before. It didn't generate more content, because people quickly lose interest. The grass is not greener on the other side. It's a dead party. Inviting a few more people isn't going to help. If they open up the gates to everyone, that's a different story, but they're not nearly ready to do that.
      - skiman10 3y ago

elliotec 3y ago

I feel like the fact you can’t even use it yet because you don’t have an invite is exactly why it isn’t ready yet.

skiman10 3y ago
Well sure, but to be fair they let a lot of "influencers" on some sort of working platform and it got a lot of hype, but since then... You don't hear much anymore. I was just wondering what was going on, they've been working on it for a while now.
- depereo 3y ago
  I've heard most of the discussion on the platform is 'meta' discussion about bluesky itself, rather than anything interesting.
  - sokz 3y ago
    My experience with mastodon was the same for a while until Elon took over twitter. Now I do see discussions on stuff I care about although I am starting to see discussions regarding the threat of Meta federating with some big instances of mastodon.
    - depereo 3y ago
      Yeah, seemed like a lot of chatter from people onboarding Mastodon was 'how does this work' or 'how do I use it to build and find community or news' or 'why this is better than other options'. That seemed to fade fast on an individual basis once there was critical mass to support conversation on other shared interests between users but flares up again from time to time when a new 'wave' of people join. Maybe bluesky just lacks critical mass for user interest overlap other than 'being on bluesky'.
  - skiman10 3y ago
    I think this right here is what makes me curious about Bluesky in the first place, the meta discussion on HN about it is weird and I want to see it for myself.

shivz45 3y ago

Bluesky is where ppl bash twitter and no other comments

lapcat 3y ago
> Bluesky is where ppl bash twitter and and Mastodon.
delecti 3y ago
There's definitely some of that, but it's a minority. Most people are just enjoying being weird and horny on a new platform.

pferde 3y ago

Apparently, (at least some) content creators like it better than Mastodon already. See https://drewdevault.com/2023/06/30/Social-and-parasocial-media.html https://drewdevault.com/2023/06/30/Social-and-parasocial-med...

jug 3y ago

I think it's too barebones and they are still working out the moderation and safety problem. Besides, it looks like it scales like shit. It's not ready for wide adoption, I have to agree about this one.

dbbk 3y ago

The UI sucks.

skiman10 3y ago
This is a new one I haven't seen before, could you go into more detail?