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@_elena

It's a Jack Dorsey creation. I'll never trust him and therefore never will trust #Bluesky

@_elena They had previously announced other crypto investment, so I would not think it was that aspect.

https://bsky.social/about/blog/10-24-2024-series-a

@_elena "Oops, we were just too busy. Tee hee!"

They had a freaking YEAR...

@_elena The whole 'gosh golly' thing ...

@_elena Masnick has certainly revealed a previously hidden side of himself in all the BS BS ...

@_elena well... This is really disappointing. I have never trusted BlueSky but I have trusted Mike Masnick. His response is really not convincing at all.

@_elena He makes it sound like it's me trying to file my taxes on time or something. Anxiety disorder creating artificial roadblocks and "forgetting". I'm also the "CEO" of a software company but mine isn't going anywhere at all, like EVER.

I wonder if he's on SSI. I've been considering it...

And the whole team has it!!?? I'm sorry. That must be a real mess to manage. Does everyone panic at the same time or y'all take turns?

We take turns.

@_elena I'm not going to mince words here, that's either total bullshit from Mike or incompetence from the team, or both. You've just received 100 mil in the bank and you can't get a staffer to spend an hour writing a press release. The real hold up was figuring out how they were going to explain it which they still haven't done.

@_elena

This is an absurd and transparent lie, that reflects very badly on Mike Masnick.

We are talking about a $100M investment, and he is asking people to believe they were just "too busy." Hogwash.

@_elena

Does not add up.

Did they secure a $100 million funding en passant, while being otherwise "crazy busy and overwhelmed" by their development work?

And if they were instead crazy busy and overwhelmed precisely because of trying to secure that funding, what kept them from taking the final step of a press release?

That's not even fishy.

@_elena @Jerry Curious if there’s a plan to monetize #Bluesky you are aware of? Two points to accent your post:

- criticism on #Mastodon initially feels like smearing a rival platform first, investigative reporting second. (Feel free to push back on that, it’s just the vibe I get when I read these articles)

- bureaucracy is an issue with brand communication. This MAY be what Bluesky is encountering because the United States needs to have a serious conversation about the illusion of brand

@_elena oh, Mike. oh, oh, oh, Mike.

I like the guy and appreciate what he does but just...

this isn't a thing.

does he think all the other companies are just sitting around eating bonbons, and this one specific company is busy?

@_elena @benroyce Mike was a surprise with his siding with Bluesky.

@_elena

sure that amount of VC cash slipped their minds

sure

@_elena Maybe the deal is in cryptocurrency, not actual dollars?

@_elena all the startups I've worked for have blasted out press releases the moment their funding rounds closed. Part of being a startup means constantly vying for attention. This explanation does not hold up.

@_elena
Thanks for highlighting this.
Bsky smells of narrative capture to me, much like Substack, (who are now teaming up with prediction markets)

@_elena it's insane to think people would believe this "explanation"...

@_elena And this is how I find out that he's on their board. 😅

Even if Bsky themselves and some of their staff actions didn't raise alarms from the get go for me. The fact that they are located in the US under current administration and the lack of autonomy does.

I'm happy I finally took the plunge and made them my back up social media and Mastodon my primary. I like some of the utility over there, but it's already doing the spiral I watched Twitter doing before leaving there.

@_elena Yea. I’m hopefully that projects like Blacksky can completely break free of Bluesky, but being ignorant of how the tech works I worry there’s some kind of rug pull to come

@_elena Very sketchy behaviour, for certain.