Wargaming on Bluesky

On the latest WS&S podcast, the team discussed Social Media where you might find new wargaming friends. Among the usual suspects - Facebook, Twitter/X - a relative newcomer was mentioned: BlueSky. BlueSky operated with a waitlist until February of this year and is currently experiencing a rapid influx of users, among them many wargamers. It looks and works a lot like Twitter/X, but not entirely.

Some quick notes on BlueSky first. It looks and works a lot like Twitter/X: there are posts, threads, DMs, notifications, feeds, etc. But its decentralized setup allows for expansion of features and servers. There are no ads nor are there plans to sell user data. Obviously that means that at some point users will have to pay for added services. More info on how it all works at TechCrunch.

Biggest difference, apart from the lack of ads between the posts of your friends, is that there are no algorithms pre-selecting what you're presented with. That means that whatever the people you follow post, you will see. It also means that if you don't follow anyone, it will feel like an awfully empty place. BlueSky certainly doesn't even come near its competitors when it comes to user-numbers, but your feed certainly doesn't need to be empty.

So how do you find people to follow then? Well, you can start with WS&S! We've just setup a profile, but Angus, Guy, Jasper, and Mark are on there and have been active there for a while. There are some wargaming companies on BlueSky already as well (e.g. TooFatLardies, Bad Squiddo Games), YouTubers (e.g. Alex Sotheran of Storm of Steel), and so on. This list will probably get outdated soon but that's where one of the extensibility features of BlueSky comes in. 

Any user can setup a starter pack, a list of users they recommend you follow for a specific range of interests. So the work of finding people to follow has been done for you already. In the case of wargaming, there are two such starter packs that we know of:

• Hobbyist Network by RealIronHand
• Historical Miniatures Wargaming by Henry Hyde
• Historical Miniatures Wargaming 2 by Henry Hyde

The link will take you through account setup and provide a list of selected users to follow. All at once, if you want, or only those you select. If you already have an account, you can just pick and choose who to follow.

Another tip for BlueSky is: block. It works, and negates any interaction with that user. It just works. Bots can certainly interact on BlueSky but without an algorithm to present them or make them go viral, they aren't nearly as effective/irritating (depending on your point of view). 

Finally, there are some other differences. BlueSky isn't very feature-heavy yet (but you might prefer that). Using Alt tags is very much encouraged. Lastly, you can decide who gets to interact with your posts if you want to. If you're disappointed in what's on offer elsewhere, give BlueSky a try. It's a wargamer-friendly place.