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Bluesky Quick Start Guide
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Bluesky Quick Start Guide

Learn how Bluesky works, is different from other socmed platforms, and get your account set up fast

Bluesky doesn't have an algorithm, it has feeds. You can see who you follow and their posts in chronological order in your following tab, and you can subscribe to feeds to see other posts. It also offers many additional moderation settings to keep your experience positive.

How is Bluesky different?

Bluesky culture is based around transparency and accessibility. It only shows you what and whom you want to see. It has many settings to avoid/disengage/stop trolling in its tracks. Including the famous “Nuclear Block”

What is the Bluesky "Nuclear Block?"

If you block someone they can't see your posts and you can't see theirs. Any interactions you had with that person are now not visible to anyone else. On other sites you can block a person but everyone reading your post still sees their replies. Not on Bluesky. No one will see their quote posts or replies to you after you block them. They can’t even see who it was. There is no soft block here, be warned.

If you don’t want to block, but just want to detach your post from someone’s quote post of it, you can do that. You can just remove your post from their conversation entirely. Anyone who sees their post will not see what post they are quoting or even who posted it.

What is a Feed?

A feed is like a programmed live-search for posts. It’s an algorithm anyone can make and share. It can show posts that have certain words in it, or ones with images. It can also be programmed to do more sophisticated searches like only show posts of people you're mutuals with. Anyone can program their own feed, but there's many already on Bluesky to explore.

No single algorithm for all means no trending phrases or hashtags, so please don’t spam those here

What are Moderation Lists?

Moderation lists are lists of accounts people have made that you may want to block or mute immediately. You can click into them to see each account and decide one by one to block/mute OR you can subscribe to the list and choose if you want to block or mute all.

A word of caution: if you subscribe to a moderation list and its owner adds an account to it after you subscribe it'll be automatically blocked or muted for you (whichever you selected). This can be really helpful but if someone was added in error you won't know.

How do I set my account up?

Write a bio! Please put an age indicator in it (ex. "33yo" or "In my 30's") so people can tell if you're a minor and choose whether to interact or block.

Open your Settings and…

Go to Accessibility and turn ON "Require Alt Text before posting" this helps you to not forget to add alt text to your images. Many accounts will not repost you if you do not add alt text to your images so we can keep Bluesky accessible for all. Guide for what info to put in the alt text in list below!

Go to Languages and set your app language and primary language. If you want to see posts in all languages in your feeds remove all languages from "Content Languages"

Go to Moderation and set up your content filters. By default "adult content" is turned off, so turn it back on and set your preferences for how those posts appear. In "Advanced" click on Bluesky Moderation Service and set the rest of the settings for the content you'd like to show/warn about/hide completely.

Go to Following Feed Preferences You can control if you see replies, reposts, and quote posts from the people you follow. If you turn on "Show posts from my feeds" it will mix in some of those posts into your following tab.

Go to Thread Preferences and sort replies by oldest first, and prioritize your follows. Turn on Threaded Mode.

Go to Chat Settings to set up if you want DMs and from whom. Group DMs are coming soon.

Useful Links and Infographics

Want to display your pronouns on your posts and see others’? This service is very widely used on Bluesky, click here and follow the instructions:

https://bsky.app/profile/pronouns.adorable.mom

Helpful Feeds to Get Started - Pin any Feed to see it as a tab in the app

Alt Text Capybara!

An infographic titled “How To Write Alt Text” featuring a photo of a capybara. Parts of alt text are divided by color, including identify who, expression, description, colour, and interesting features. The finished description reads “A capybara looking relaxed in a hot spa. Yellow yuzu fruits are floating in the water, and one is balanced on the top of the capybara’s head.”

Moderation Lists to Start With - Instantly subscribe and mute or block all kinds of accounts you’d rather not see or interact with!

https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:bhb6zuqpyekea4tuwhuznjhc/lists/3l4w23goo4w2v

https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:6lex766uif2o6hcu2cawgxsg/lists/3jvqdbq4hvv2e

https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:pmyqirafcp3jqdhrl7crpq7t/lists/3kn6pvyceas2r

https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:2segyv655ckqdgkvsqaiianr/lists/3kz36mhnaes2t

https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:6lex766uif2o6hcu2cawgxsg/lists/3jvplg6i7vb2p

https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:dvwrjvvy4yigovpkfzo3wxyr/lists/3kahvvgbx2w2n

https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:2uufde7u55z4it3u55jotobs/lists/3k7tyyvmjrw2q

https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:hzlrd6vbu4cxg4cnjzofzpul/lists/3l2lyvtks442a

https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:5ltzxts5m6zsz3wdesiqx2po/lists/3kmjajhaawl2o

https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:6lex766uif2o6hcu2cawgxsg/lists/3kaj356pxwk2e

https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:nveriwcateviqiophvrdxyul/lists/3kbblcsinjk23

https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:e4elbtctnfqocyfcml6h2lf7/lists/3l53cjwlt4o2s

https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:bfjoqzne3tm5yxvpybdfahzo/lists/3jzmevbfqkj2u

https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:6lex766uif2o6hcu2cawgxsg/lists/3jwehhe3r4l2d

https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:6lex766uif2o6hcu2cawgxsg/lists/3jvqb6zu4j52f

https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:6lex766uif2o6hcu2cawgxsg/lists/3kda56btiqc2l

https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:6lex766uif2o6hcu2cawgxsg/lists/3jvqbyfelpv2k