Bluesky and Enshittification

Two days ago, Cory Doctorow’s daily Pluralistic post showed up in my RSS reader, and the title caught my attention: Bluesky and enshittification. I’ve read a number of his previous posts regarding “enshittification”, a term he coined to refer to a pattern in which online products and services decline in quality, and so I started skimming this article to see what Bluesky had done to catch his attention.

The details are probably not ultimately important for this blog post, but the short version is that Bluesky raised $15M in a series A funding round, led by venture capital fund Blockchain Capital. Many in the fediverse are concerned by the effects venture capital can have on platforms, and are especially skeptical of anyone involved with blockchains (see this article on The Fediverse Report for more details).

A few hours later, Molly White’s thoughts on the topic crossed my Mastodon feed, and I decided that I wanted to add to the conversation in my own little way, though it took me a couple of days to get around to it.

While I tend to not be quite as dogmatic as many in the fediverse when it comes to these topics, I too have begun to think more critically about where I post content, and how to have more control over the platforms on which I share my thoughts. That is one of the underlying reasons I started this website a decade ago, and is also one of the driving forces behind recent changes to eventually allow me to become a POSSE-er, joining individuals like Cory Doctorow, Molly White, and others on the IndieWeb whose voices I respect.

I like the idea of this website being my home on the internet, my little corner of the web, and being able to syndicate from here to the world. I like being able to point friends, family, coworkers, and anyone who is curious to a single location, from which they can read my thoughts, and learn about who I am, and what I value.

I’ll close with this quote from Doctorow. It’s a little more direct that my current views, but I more or less agree with the underlying sentiment:

“I will never again devote my energies to building up an audience on a platform whose management can sever my relationship to that audience at will.”