Re: The Bluesky Panopticon

[rynling]

Sorry I’m not done yet. There’s no need to go into the details, but here’s another thing that happened on Bluesky earlier this year:

(a) A guy in my field who seemed nice followed me, so I followed him back.
(b) Within a week or two, I realized he was a douchebag, so I blocked him.
(c) Months later, unknown to me, there was some sort of drama with this guy.
(d) Suddenly I got a dozen DMs from people asking why I’m following him.

Apparently Bluesky still lists you as following someone if you block them, and I had to send everyone screenshots to “prove” that I did indeed have this guy blocked. And just to be clear, he’s not a predator or anything; he’s just an obnoxious online reply guy. Still, because I didn’t know enough about Bluesky to realize that you have to manually unfollow someone you block, actual adult professionals whom I’ve met in real life were getting really upset with me. I lost a publication opportunity because of this then, and I’m 85% certain I lost another publication opportunity because of this more recently.

I’m gonna be real, this is why I don’t like to write about gender or sexuality anymore. The purity politics in online feminist communities can be really scary sometimes.

As a palate cleanser, please allow me to share this photo of a baby sloth:

Comments

[runicmagitek]

Ok but REAL TALK I also didn't know you had to actively unfollow someone before you block them on Bsky. I figured, you know, like literally every other platform, it would just do that for you. I also really hate that you can't block someone and thus force them to unfollow you. They'll just keep following you, despite the block 🫠 this is one of the many reasons why I've been using Bsky less...

I'm so sorry this resulted in real people getting upset at you. Also sorry you lost a pub opportunity bc of it. Jfc that's really insane.

But most importantly, thank you for the baby sloth. What a guy 💕

[rynling]

It's wild to think that some people treat social media like it's Game of Thrones. I understand that the recent disruptions to pop culture journalism have everyone in a bad mood, but... Idk man, I'm too old for that sort of nonsense. I can't stay up all night on DMs, I have work in the morning lmao.

But at the same time I'm not old enough to have fully progressed beyond the "need to make yourself small" that the OP describes in the post you reblogged on Tumblr this morning. It's especially difficult to be online when, as a creative person, it's your job to be sensitive.

I totally understand why so many artists + writers + game devs go almost completely offline as soon as they achieve their first big publication. If that ever ends up being me, I'm going to make a secret alt account and fill it with the most cringe garbage imaginable. Just like. All monster fucking all the way down. Plus some knights and wizards for variety. The TV man can come too.

[scrawnytreedemon]

It's wild to think that some people treat social media like it's Game of Thrones. I understand that the recent disruptions to pop culture journalism have everyone in a bad mood, but... Idk man, I'm too old for that sort of nonsense. I can't stay up all night on DMs, I have work in the morning lmao.

Yeah, seriously, not everyone has time to keep up with this nonsense. We do not need community-enforced FOMO with the threat of being ostracised if you're not constantly plugged into online drama with various levels of derangement behind it.

Ex. hau. sting.

[runicmagitek]

God my week has been hell with all the shipping suspension bullshit (literally overflowed my tea in the break room bc a coworker ran to find me and inform me), so please know I cried from laughing so hard at your last paragraph and slapping "The TV man can come too." I'm so glad we both latched onto this crazy motherfucker. And I will always crack up every time you mention him casually. I love it. May we survive this nonsense and keep laughing about the TV man a decade from now. Holy shit I needed that - thank you friend 🥂

Also speaking of Tenna hskshsjd I read your article about Deltarune chapter 3 a couple weeks back and never got around to letting you know I loved reading it and you did a wonderful job putting it together. And so glad you included the most important point: understanding why everyone wants to smooch him 💕

[lassarina]

Baby sloth has got the right idea....and the purity politics always make me want to throw things but especially right now.

[rynling]

You are absolutely correct. Now is not the time.

Like every week it's a new horror. Every single week. This week, the U.S. started enforcing tariffs on even very small commercial purchases, which means that indie artists from Canada, Europe, the UK, and Asia can't send stickers or charms or washi tape to American fans. People who sell their merch on Etsy have been absolutely losing their shit behind the scenes. Fucking DHL (DHL!!!!) will no longer ship to the United States, nor will Canada Post.

This is insane. And this is just this one week.

I understand how living through this mess has put everyone on edge, but still. Now is not the time.

[lassarina]

I get that people want to control what they can control, but, truly...not the time.

[eff_ess_oe]

Ok but what kind of ill-designed site doesn't unfollow people as soon as you block them...

This is why I never went back to bsky after trying it for less than a month when it was still invite only

[rynling]

I don't blame you! I'm not saying that the way Twitter is (mis)managed doesn't affect its community vibes, but I also think the real problem is basic human nature. I originally intended to use Bluesky as a networking platform, but these days I think I have maybe ten people I haven't muted.

Meanwhile, Bluesky is committed to having opensource code, which is cool I guess but also means that there are all sorts of widgets that anyone can use to see who you've blocked + who has blocked you. Which is kind of dystopian. I try not to think about it too hard.

[scrawnytreedemon]

WHAT? Oh that is SO stupid. Who codes a site where blocking someone doesn't automatically unfollow them? And the weird, nosey, cliquey behaviour from the people you ought have been in community with... Eugh. The fact it potentially lost you two publishing opportunities over such a stupid thing is mind-boggling to me. What on earth.

[rynling]

Bluesky definitely has some friction points as a platform, but you're right - this is just stupid.

On every website I've written for, there's been a literal blacklist (usually in the form of a Google spreadsheet) of writers, artists, and other public figures whose work we won't cover or even mention. Back when I still gave talks at fan conventions, the organizational Discord servers hosted similar documents of people who weren't allowed to participate in the con in any capacity. It's a bit scary to think that these "secret" spreadsheets exist; but, to be fair, the people who were blacklisted were real-life predators with a long and well-documented history of abuse.

What I'm worried about is that the "Proship DNI" nonsense of Tumblr fandom circles is becoming more mainstream without older people understanding that it's nothing more than bog-standard fanwank and shipwars (and not serious accusations of actual abuse). If we get to a point where people are blacklisted from publishing in progressive venues because they once wrote fanfic about the wrong two anime characters or shared a post from a "problematic" account, we might be in trouble.