In the past month alone, over 12M people joined Bluesky, with daily active users growing 10x. We received more reports in two days than in all of last year, and have integrated new systems and quadrupled our moderation team to try and keep up. Sometimes, we have to work quickly to correct errors.
Comments
https://bsky.app/profile/monicarose.ca/post/3ld7f2ivfcs27
Your chances of properly monetizing later on look bad if you keep Singal.
What people do elsewhere, they will bring here.
There's a reason we don't let sex offenders within 500 feet of a school. We don't let them inside and say, "Don't worry, we'll kick them out if they break the rules."
If a person's twitter history would get them banned on bluesky if it happened here, you already know what kind of person they are and they should be preemptively banned.
High-profile harrassers from twitter are the easiest people to make a decision to ban
"A false perception that we take action based on behavior outside of Bluesky"
Well you obviously don't take action based on behavior ON bluesky because the guy EVERYONE knows you're covering for has doxxed people HERE.
https://bsky.app/profile/illcaesar.bsky.social/post/3lctjdmhltk2h
Congratulations on not being one of those bartenders. /s
We still keep a very close eye on members when we are alerted to outside behavior.
Do you have the moderation space and time to keep an eye on actors you are warned about without taking action on them, when you have to moderate millions of other users?
I have 50 people.
Expressing intent to harass members may not be literally onsite behavior but it affects it.
this truly is a comedy in the greek style.
https://bsky.app/profile/safety.bsky.app/post/3ld7e2hsd322r
*proceeds to tell all the bad actors they just have to organize their harassment off-site and you'll do nothing*
You’re telling them how to do it right in these posts
the weakness isn't in your clarity. the failure is not in your communications. you should ban someone who boasts of destroying what you've built.
You are so fucking bad at this.
I give up
Who is this for???
Because right now they're just openly posting on the site while you insist they're doing nothing wrong, despite what everyone can plainly see.
Intuition can guide you a little bit of whether something should be allowed.
Because what other reason would there be, apparently
Insisting that you cannot possibly have done anything wrong here will only drive distrust and disengagement.
You have no place or right to be in your position if you can't ban an obvious transphobic pedophile apologist! Coddling facists and bigots are what made Twitter go to hell and become a breeding ground for misinfo.
Stop repeating the same mistake!
Clarity isn’t gonna solve this.
What’s the controversy? That you’re protecting a know harassment inciter and pedophile apologist while tens of thousands of your most loyal, long time users are telling you what you should have done a week ago?
Ban Jesse Singal.
You fucking engineering-minded people who scoff at the very idea of the social sciences are now in charge of a communications platform connecting millions and are falling prey to the MOST OBVIOUS PITFALLS
The majority of transfer from Twitter came from people seeking safety away from transphobic abuse and the people that encourage it.
So why should I?
it’s not a confusion or weakness in your community guidelines. it’s bluesky refusing to apply them to a serial harasser bc you want the clicks and attention he brings
So step 1 to improving your guidelines: Stop that.
Anyway forget ever getting money from me, and I'll encourage others to never pay as well
Protect them first and utmost.
Dont allow known abusers in your space.
If you tolerate arseholes and bullies, eventually all you'll be left with will be arseholes and bullies. How is it that people running online forums in 2024 still need to be told this?
How is this not giving up the game?
https://bsky.app/profile/safety.bsky.app/post/3ld7e2hsd322r
Look at open source the only secure way to make things over time.
But yea that mean own your shit
Right now, this moment, people do not feel safe. They are not trusting the service. This is your job, and you are failing at it.
https://bsky.app/profile/ryanjreilly.com/post/3ld7cjt7eus2v
Who exactly is making these decisions and what is the process for considering changes to it and listening to community input?
There's no moral virtue in pretending that we can't know how someone will behave if they haven't done it on a particular site. It's an open door to bad actors.
Sad & preposterously self-blinding view of context & behavior. Take off the blinders yo.
https://bsky.app/profile/safety.bsky.app/post/3ld7e2hs7622r
Take a stance to protect the network. Widely. Like GitHub. (Who uses outside context a lot!)
https://bsky.app/profile/nsqe.bsky.social/post/3ld7lczynmk2x
When a well-known public figure repeatedly makes statements that would violate your TOS repeatedly in other media, ban that person's account on Bluesky, even if they technically behave here. They are a bad actor spreading toxic ideologies and causing harm.
or a CEO who is above board on the job, but is absolutely skimming money or spending it on hookers & blow, that's OK?
SMDH
You are NEVER going to have a perfect set of unequivocal rules that they won’t test and twist.
Just fucking ban them.
And here I thought it was worth my time to join here :(
If it writes like a troll and types like a troll, it’s probably a troll.
Plus people block for some all kinds of random reasons. Last top 20~ list I saw included the President of Brazil and a Brazilian football team.
Here is our statement on this situation.
https://bsky.app/profile/fourthplace.forum/post/3ld7gwy633k2s
If you want to KEEP this massive influx of new users you got, you need to do better.
literally fuck you
just say your sponsors or whatever like this awful man and you don't want to ban him or whatever you actually mean or shut up
Just because you’re willfully blind to the opinions of tens of thousands of primary sources doesn’t make them not exist.
The fact that the team thinks a ToS change is all that's necessary is astounding and shows just how little experience the team has in content moderation.
Oh well, wonder what the next social media site will be 🤷♀️
Bad actors are creative about being shitty and love to do rhetorical dances to make you seem bad for banning them.
Just don't play their game.
The best moderation is always rules + spirit of rules.
It's been weeks since the owner of a revenge porn website has been making fake m4ga/f4scist lists to mass-block and harass users, and we can't leave the list nor the reports seem to have resulted in anything at all.
Why give him a platform?
Safety continues to be a myth. Kick all nazis out regardless if theyve posted or not. Am I clear?
If your argument is _but that’s different_, then you can ban for outside actions, then we are just negotiating where that line should be.
You seem extremely weak here and will lose the momentum you have been gaining.
Extremely disappointing
Weird..
I look forward to the avalanche of i-told-you-so's when this eventually turns into a problem.
Get a spine and do the right thing
Silly of me to have thought this place was any different than anywhere else.
Fucking Deplorable, be better.
That alone allows bad actors to game your system.
You don't have to. You see yourselves as cops, when you should be soldiers in an information warfare landscape. You just have to recognize the enemy and fight them, you don’t owe them an explanation. (Singal and his ilk are the enemy)
Stop with this mealy mouthed bullshit, what is he paying you?
We're not buying it.
We KNOW you're aware of the problems of this particular person.
We KNOW you're aware of the problems they have already caused here.
Fix this or risk letting them destroy what has been built here.
Or you could keep telling everyone that he's more important than the people he sics hate mobs on.
Just so you're aware? That last one is what you're doing right now.
That is, I cannot emphasize this enough, fucking stupid and fucking dangerous.
he litterally *has violated the community guidelines*
Users can't target and harass other users
Except, of course, you're *famous* enough. Or are targeting the *right* minorities.
then by all means have as many TOS violations as you please.
Hell they have stopped posting themselves.
Do better.
That makes no sense.
Would you ignore clear evidence of one of your team members committing a fireable offense if it was contained on a VHS that arrived via snail mail with no return address?
Since that can't be verified in-app, of course.
https://www.change.org/p/bluesky-must-enforce-its-community-guidelines-equally
So you won't take action against people verifiably organising harassment campaigns offsite and sending people here to abuse trans users of your site?
Do better. Be better.
I’m just saying, that’s what they have on the line.
1. Account joins bluesky with following from elsewhere.
2. Account screenshots other bluesky accounts with commentary
3. Screenshotted account is harassed by followers
After QTs, this is what drives dogpiling!
How do you fuck this up this bad?
People that are constantly victims of dangerous harassment campaigns and their allies would be happy to contribute to a place where they can find safety
Heck we even would be happy to pay for a subscription! If you even dared to try before considering advertising
If someone blocks me, does that mean I can do block evasion and post their private info on the internet for all to see? 🤔
That’s my takeaway from this weaselly response by Blue Sky’s “moderation” team.
I've faced deadnaming, slander, intimidation, threats, and bullying for being femme, all from the same account that Bluesky refuses to shutdown after weeks of filing reports. This is because Bluesky does NOT CARE about the safety of users.
That's pretty stupid of you
Distributed software needs policies that aren't undermined by distribution.
Trans rights or fuck off
https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/hhs-ocr-notice-and-guidance-gender-affirming-care.pdf
people with a history of this shit and a STATED agenda of this shit do NOT deserve the benefit of doubt.
why?
Do not shit on the minorities who fled Twitter and gave you the popularity and user base you have now.
enforce your terms of service
you know he is, and are refusing to act. at LEAST let the intolerance label remain, if you won't enforce your own TOS and have to change it to allow harassment
you know what i mean
Now, in addition to supporting transphobes for money, they are supporting pedophiles at Bluesky. My god. ugh
Good.
Preemptively ban all those evil fuckers.
Aaron likes him, we get it, that much is obvious.
THAT’S when people got upset. It otherwise would’ve been taken care of.
You gave a known bad actor a special pass for no real reason.
We all see it.
Agnostic of the actual issue here, serious though it may be, this reveals a serious process problem that should be addressed.
All the money you would have made if you had made a subscription is drying up fast. Nobody will give a dime when you clearly refuse to even do something as simple and obvious as this.
I haven't been following this much and even I find the lack of action concerning. There's an easy answer here. Keep people safe.
Now I'm not so sure anymore. Please hire some trans employees for your Trust and Safety team.
K then this app is just twitter 2 and offers nothing new or interesting
Mistakes that have been instrumental in driving fascism globally, btw.
Good luck, I guess, but you should consider being better.
Democracy is PRACTICED, and those who violate its practice are a cancer that eventually destroys the whole project.
How could you be alive the last ten years and not get this?? Jaw-droppingly naive.
It’s like we’ve all be raised on this gruel.
Who will want to buy those if people like Jesse Singal running around becomes normal?
You are sabotaging your future. You are driving yourself out of business.
Cool. That sucks.
Singal has already violated the rules. Why dither on banning him? You know he's a hatemonger.
But now suddenly you want to act like “Actually no if you say “Im not touching you” its not breaking the TOS” and for what exactly?
Fuck off with this horseshit. Be better Bluesky. Don't fuck it up.
ya'll aren't even really addressing the controversy, nor providing a solid, defensible argument to support your decision to allow a serial harasser to exist here.
Way to nuke your company.
it's been over a week now. and you've let a documented, serial harasser run rampant on your site
WHO ARE YOU KEEPING SAFE?!!
it's certainly not marginalized users. which is a huge kick in the face, considering we built this place
Do you?
showing the user base that you actually care about our safety and privacy.
how is this so difficult for you?
Seriously, how can you be the same as every other failure of a human on this horrid world
Are you aware that there are people who can triangulate your position from a tiny piece of building or a landmark accidentally shared?
That you could mention that you were going somewhere and then somewhere else casually and someone can triangulate from that?
If someone wants to know, they will know.
Get your shit together and stop blaming people who are victimized, and do your job.
Not any more.
Step. Up. Your response is self-contradictory even within this thread, leat alone in comparison to your actual policies re. dogpiling etc. DO BETTER.
You know exactly what you are doing.
Nice to know I'll never be safe anywhere online.
Fucked up if so.
It too also has nuclear block options that make it impossible for bad faith actors to get a foothold & run away with your words. I recommend it.
A thousand people aren’t asking you to ban the guy because he’s unpopular. They’re doing it because he’s actively harmful to our community. Please reconsider this disappointing stance.
singals posts, in app, are barely concealed hate speech masquerading as journalism.
You are a bar. Honey. You're a bar. You are maintaining a social space. You have a responsibility to those who come to your bar in good faith. Jesse does not wish well for your bad. He hates your bar.
That's.
It.
Whoever told you that you need this legal mumbo jumbo is wrong
You need a cease and desist to Jesse's ISP
I know I'm not asking in a polite way, but please interview me for a moderation team lead position. I will help you
Great you're one of the million plus who've used The Buckeye Bar
Which I led the creation of in my 20s.
Ban him, move on.
Wow. That's. Wow. What a dumb long term decision. You see the exodus to your site and don't realize we can leave it just as fast?
You are actively choosing to break the rules you set to protect him.
https://www.change.org/p/bluesky-must-enforce-its-community-guidelines-equally
And that accounts created by horrible people who are famous get treated the same as nobodies who are horrible.
Its ok to just say he's not getting suspended cause you don't want it
Look, everyone knows who Singal is and what he does. Actually not up to debate. I wonder if it's even possible for a person to be as gullible as you think we are
You are not a court. You do not need to handwring over these issues. Ban the people trying to make Trans folks afraid. Case by case. I don’t care about consistency if being inconsistent makes people safer.
Or are you unwilling to read the various posts that get reported to you?
Do better
Be better
Don’t be Diet Twitter
You should read it. That last sentence is a doozy.
Maybe you're just not doing enough. And maybe your ToS isn't up to snuff if, as you said, you've gotten more reports than ever the last 2 days and yet you refuse to do anything about it.
https://www.change.org/p/bluesky-must-enforce-its-community-guidelines-equally
Which it does!
Community Guidelines 1A, 1M, *2A*, 2B
bsky is available to the public so its impossible to stop people planning harassment off site (dms, etc) and then coming over here and conducting raids.
ban the racists. ban the transphobes. ban the accounts posting slurs. ban jesse fucking singal.
just fucking ban them.
https://www.change.org/p/bluesky-must-enforce-its-community-guidelines-equally
You nuked Libs of TikTok when they got here based on external activity.
You're letting a stochastic terrorist on the site.
Seems like it would just be easier to ban the guy constantly breaking TOS than to do these verbal gymnastics every day
Do better.
asking for an entire platform of friends
Shameful.
Is Aaron just a transphobe or something? And is there any indication they're gonna do something ahout it, or are they just gonna sit on their ass while we're targeted by more and more people?
1. Aaron (with tacit approval from CEO Jay unless she comes out to say otherwise) is either friends with or sympathetic towards jesse singal, and circumvented his bans & labels
2. Aaron & Jay are fuckin petrified of JS suing them and have thrown us under the bus
both are fucked up.
Not the least bit suprising (i've been here since May '23 so i remember your response to the anti-Black stuff), but so disappointing
Do your fucking job, or just give the place to Musk or some other techdildo and save us some time before this place dies.
Many are easily identifiable (see examples) & many are already posting political content while falsely inflating metrics (including yours).
E.g. of easily identifiable:
1/
I documented a bunch more but hopefully this is enough to give you the idea.
Your platform is already flooded. Please do better.
/End
And they've managed to kickstart that into motion in less than two months.
Amazing.
It’s someone desperately clinging to old school trolling, the most pathetic kind.
"work quickly to correct errors" more like work quickly to correct deserved bans and intolerant labels
You may need to recruit a few more people.
Does the person have Nazi symbols on their profile? Yes? Easy.
Does the person 'sound' like a fascist? Not easy.
Defining what is fascist is itself, not straightforward
This is an instance where a careful hands-off approach simply isn't effective. See the nazi-bar problem.
Just say you don't want trans people on your app, it would have saved you having to sit up without a spine
I’m learning to recognize the pattern of the aggression:
an intellectual question or opinion suddenly devolves into a personal attack.
I don't think we're dealing with pros here...
You grew because we thought you were better. If we wanted trolls we’d be back on X
Work to correct errors?— what a novel concept! So unlike "the other place."
Am still enjoying the new safe space of @bsky.app. Well done, all. 🥂
@marymcnamara.bsky.social
-approve followers
-edit posts
-remove ourselves from lists & starter packs (or approval to be added)
-have Bluesky get rid of bots
Thanks
It’s not so much pathetic as it is predictable.
https://www.planetcritical.com/p/cyber-security-experts-warn-election-hacked?r=38w8z&utm_medium=ios&triedRedirect=true
Ya know, like EVERY OTHER SOC MED SITE?
"If it doesn't happen here it doesn't matter to us" might simplify your rules and process, but it's not getting the job done. It leaves us unsafe on Bluesky and in the world.
Reconsider!
That’s why I stopped posting there tbh
I've loved it from my first day on there, long before I got a bsky invite. The federation that some don't like is the point. I literally never come across transphobes.
Keep up the good work. 🤗
@gordor97.bsky.social
Cowards making a refuge state for bigots. Cowards. COWARDS.
Is it what I see?
And there used to be just a running listing of my Posts that I cannot find anymore.
it doesn't matter whether bad actors do what they do on bluesky, or off bluesky; allowing nazis on your site is bad any time of day.
if they by your metric havent yet done anything objectionable, they will; spreading hate is why they're here
X on the other hand is pretty much unmoderated now in contrast 🥴
The question is more complex, it's around identifying if someone is a bigot or fascist. That can seem obvious to some, but for an organisation, working within legal constraints, it's not so easy
"You're not welcome here! Fuck off!"
We need a tool that allows us to more easily reuse the block list of a target account. Or even dynamically update from such a block list.
- Jesse Singal
- Rockyrz
Room for more but it's a start.
Trans folk gave you this platform. We can damn well take it away.
We're back to the Nazi bar comparison.
And maybe not let people that spread nothing but hate and bigotry, onto your website. There are other places for that and they can stay there.
And you can stop that and gain back some respect by course correcting now
Also, yeah just ban the guy. If he wants to dox someone there's nothing community moderation can do.
Thank you