Bluesky, a social networking startup and competitor to decentralized X, is introducing new features aimed at reducing toxicity on its platform and making conversations less aggressive than previous versions. The company on Wednesday introduced several anti-abuse features, including the ability to hide replies that X currently offers, and the ability to separate your original posts from other users' quoted posts, the latter of which limits people's ability to attack others or send hate.
Dank Tweets began as a form of abuse on Twitter, where people would use the Quote Tweet feature to add their own comment mocking, denigrating, or refuting the original post, to which others would respond with further insults, ridicule, or abuse. Danks often result in a surge in likes and replies, especially if the dank comment is witty, and have become a popular way for Twitter users to increase engagement with their posts. However, for the person being danked, being highlighted in this way can be unwelcome, leading to large groups of non-followers spamming replies with hateful or abusive language.
The quote detach feature, introduced in Bluesky's latest release (version 1.90), lets users see all quote posts associated with a particular post and remove their own original post from other users' quote posts. The company explained in its announcement that the feature gives “users control over the threads they start, ideally limiting dogpiling and other forms of harassment” (of course, it's still possible to take a screenshot to dunk on a post, so it doesn't necessarily prevent dunking entirely).
Image credit: Bluesky
Another competitor to X, Meta's Threads, also offers tools that allow users to change who can reply to or quote their posts.
One drawback of this feature is that quote posts could be used to correct or clarify misinformation, but Bluesky says it will instead rely on labeling services, or labels added to posts by moderation services. Unlike X and Facebook, there isn't just one centralized moderation team. The company has also built tools that allow developers and other communities to build their own labeling and moderation services. The company is also helping to foster the ecosystem by offering small grants to those who want to build such tools.
Additionally, Bluesky said they also want to integrate features like community notes in the future.
In X, community notes act as a crowd-sourced form of fact-checking, relying on a bridging algorithm that works to find common ground between people who don't normally share the same views. When both parties agree on a note, it's more likely to be true. Bluesky didn't say when such a feature might be on the roadmap, though.
Other new features coming to Bluesky include the ability to hide replies to your own posts. Replies will still be public, but they will be placed behind a “hidden replies” screen, making users less likely to click through and read them, as hidden replies are often spam or unhelpful comments.
Image credit: Bluesky
Another added feature is the option to enable priority notifications, which means you'll only receive notifications from people you follow. This ensures that people with large follower counts see the replies and updates that interest them the most, but it's also useful for people whose posts unexpectedly get attention.
The company says it plans to add more notification options over time.
Image credit: Bluesky
Bluesky also changes the way replies appear on users' timelines.
Instead of showing all replies in your Following feed, you'll now only see replies that involve two or more people you follow. This means you can reply to older posts and have them appear at the top of your followers' feeds, eliminating the need to repost your own reply to make them appear. Additionally, replies will no longer be separated from top-level posts, the company said.
However, the change could make it harder for people to find interesting conversations they want to join, impacting engagement metrics. Some users are already unhappy with the change, stating that their Follow feed now contains significantly less content. Bluesky said it will listen to user feedback on the change, suggesting that the team may consider rolling it back if there is a lot of backlash against the change.