Like millions of others, I recently signed up for an account over at #BlueSky. And while most of those are people just leaving "the birdsite" in my case it is after two years here in the #fediverse.
And (maybe also like millions of others) I have a few thoughts about the things that are better over there, and the things I still prefer here. (1/x)
The main thing is it is much easier to find people to follow there, and to set up a feed for yourself, for a number of reasons:
1) More people there total. (duh)
2) Search works. Although in principle it is a decentralized open protocol like the fediverse, in practice it is a single platform. So searching (by name, handle, or content) just works. On fedi, people have to opt in to search, and even then it is a crap shoot whether something makes it to your server.
3) The user-curated lists, feeds, and starter packs (I am not even totally clear on exactly how these differ from each other) make it very easy to find an already curated list of people for whatever your interest. This is probably bsky's best original feature.
(2/x)
As for the #bridgy thing between #bluesky and #fediverse , it is a good idea but
1) Not enough people use it, especially on the bsky side. Of 117 people I am currently following after a couple of days there, only 9 are following the brid.gy account. But I think 6 of those are people who I know also have a separate active fedi account anyway.
2) Fedi's discoverability problem is even worse for bridged accounts. Even for those bsky accounts that do enable the bridge, they may not show up in search on your instance until you send a private message to the brid.gy account with their bluesky address (...which you may not even know unless you already have your own real bluesky account).
So, on the whole, a good idea, but barely useful in practice. And since it requires active opt-in, I doubt that will change.
(3/x)
On the other hand, there is much I still prefer about fedi. With the smaller number of people here, and the technical barriers to entry helping to select for a certain type of user, discussions (on certain topics) can develop a little more slowly, and often more thoughtfully, once you find the right people to follow for your interests.
In my case, I particularly enjoy the music crowd that I have found to follow here (many on either heads.social or shakedown.social). I think it's much harder to find the same sort of dialogue on bsky (even with some of the same people participating!) just because it's noisier there.
(4/x)
Also as I said above, bsky is still more a monolithic platform than an open protocol so far. That actually gives it an advantage over fedi in some of those user-experience issues, but makes me worry, longer-term, about the VCs and how they might eventually try to change bsky to try to make a return on their investments.
At least for now, I expect to stay active on both platforms (with more focus on music and tech here, and more focus on sports there), and see how things develop.
(5/5)