Joining the ATmosphere
Wow. Has it really been that long?
I joined the ATmosphere (via Bluesky) on 15th April 2024. It doesn't feel that long, to be quite honest. It feels a lot shorter. Yes, of course, I know that one year on a social platform isn't that long; after all, people have been on Twitter for over a decade, but Bluesky is special to me in a way that neither Twitter nor even Mastodon ever was.
A Platform That Feels Made for Me
It feels alive and made for me. Not in the sense that it was literally made for me, obviously, but in the way that I can fully optimise the social experience for my own use. I can use Graze to build my own feeds. I can follow whoever I want and even migrate seamlessly between Personal Data Servers. It's refreshing to know that my data is mine.
I mean, you could be reading this on my dedicated blog site or the WhiteWind blog site. It's the exact same content, just on different interfaces, and I love that. My personal website is essentially a glorified RSS feed of my Bluesky and Frontpage posts, but even so, it's great to know that everything is synced from my PDS and fully automatic. There's no friction, and I have full control over how my activity is seen.
Unexpected Growth
Somehow, I've managed nearly 1,600 followers on my Bluesky profile in just a year. I find that insane, as that's:
- My largest follower base on any social media—previously, my peak was on a Mastodon account with around 150 followers.
- Roughly 4.3 new followers per day.
All I do is ramble online. Why do people like that?
I'm not really complaining. I like it when numbers go up, but it's just surprising to me that people would put up with me bombarding them with werewolf reposts from my werewolf feed and technobabble—much like an Anglo-Saxon speaking in what the Romans considered 'the language of the barbarians.'
Technical Learning Journey
I will say, though, the AT Protocol has helped me learn how Linux and Docker work on a fundamental level. I did sysadmin on Ubuntu Server when I was running my own PDS, but both instances were short-lived—ultimately due to the energy costs of leaving my laptop (acting as a server—it's now running Arch Linux and is what I'm typing this on) on and plugged in 24/7. Even so, it was a very valuable experience for me. I learned how to troubleshoot on my own and be more independent.
