> active users did drop a bit from peak

from something like nearly 20M to around 1M, a bit more than a bit, user measurements should be easier, but they are often presented in bias to make things look better than reality (imo)

Sites which track users across many websites (imperfect, but still a useful relative signal) report ~25% drop over the last year. Took a look after asking to see for myself.

> What holds Bluesky back is

(imo)

technical:

- super slow development for the most requested features

- defaulting to public, anyone in the world can read what you write (people want privacy in comms/social)

- control over the protocol in practice

non-technical:

- several own goals by the leadership

- group think in the development ecosystem

- taking Bain Capital money and hiding it from everyone for 10 months (this is the exact opposite of their supposed ethos)

- significant political / activist community, which is giddy to dogpile if you talk about something they do not like (eg. Ai)

I was personally attacked several times in the "atmosphere" for having different views, and by the CTO here on HN, who picked one critique among pros/cons I listed in an attempt to troll me, or get under my skin. (too online like behavior)