sp3ctr4l

Really?

Like, this is genuine news to me, if its true.

https://github.com/itaru2622/bluesky-selfhost-env

I can find tools like this, that help you set up a good number of elements of BlueSky... but the only mention of the relay (apparently also known as BGS, for... BigSky?)... is that you connect to it... not run your own.

Beyond even the price point and required server hosting heft... where, where is an actual 'here is how to download, configure and run your own BlueSky relay'?

As far as I am aware, all there has been is a mix of vague, noncommital, and hopeful musings of various people suggesting that one day maybe it will be possible to do this, hopefully they'll support that soon...

... which to me at least, very much reminds me of fanboys/girls of a video game just coping with the fact that their favorite video game with a massive bug or lacking a major advertised feature... will just have it fixed one day... even though the devs have been radio silent about it for a year.

i was asking in good faith, and i can't thank you enough for providing such a thorough and effective answer.

I just wanted to clarify, as... at least for myself, even here on lemmy, discussions about this have been going on for at least 6 to 9 months, and ... a good number of people have not been engaging in those discussions in good faith.

But yes, I am happy to answer, glad you found it helpful!

Apologies for the hilariously simplistic graphics... i literally just drew them on my gas station tier phone haha. But I think they get the point across.

it almost sounds like bluesky is just a baby twitter in the making, and it'll probably end up the same way. i'm really digging the actual fediverse thing, mainly because it seems to be one of the only places that money and vc bs hasn't been able to touch.

Yep, it pretty much literally is twitter 2.0 (3.0?), was founded by Jack Dorsey, ... its not even a non profit, it is a for profit 'benefit' corporation, which basically just means its corporate bylaws claim that it attempts to benefit the public in some way.

IE, literally the corporate / legal version of virtue signalling... it is still ultimately a for profit corporation that will put profit and growth above everything else... and hopefully by now, people understand how that literally always turns out.

Like a toilet bowl, mounted to the ceiling.

As I see it the only advantage is that it is not run by Elon Musk.

And by 'advantage' I mean the 'advantage' of using a corporate product that, so far, is doing its best to drive people away from an actually censorship resistant Fediverse, using inclusive rainbow capitalist language to lure in the large majority of people who are not tech savvy enough to realize they are basically lying to / misleading them.

That is literally how I read it as well, BlueSky is farming out server load to enthusiastic and dedicated users, while also just going ham on the PR / propoganda / marketing making themselves appear to be something they are not.

Unless I missed something and BlueSky is actually letting people run and custom configure their own relays at least semi independently... yeah, they're basically being quite shady and misleading.

I was oversimplifying a bit such that it wouldn't be overwhelming to a self-described uninformed person asking for an explanation.

Yes, there are multiple actual relays but they functionally constitute a single layer or class of components in a birds eye view of the whole system.

As far as I am aware, no one other than BlueSky runs the relays, or has the code to do so.

If I am wrong about that, I would appreciate a source indicating such.

Does anyone other than BlueSky actually run a relay?

On the bright side, at least our upcoming American cyberpunk dystopia is now more likely to feature a greater prevelance of lone wolf, broke, two bit hackers as a semi-viable lifestyle/'career path'...

... A folder of bookmarks on their web browser labelled either 'Definitely Not Porn' or 'Research Project', buried in 8 nested layers of other folders and bookmarks.

I am sure if you ask them, they will blame it on water flouridation.

... Not the lead in the gasoline or the paint in the walls they grew up with, or the asbestos... or the alcoholism...

Oh right, of course, I almost forgot: Someone in my family got the covid vaccine and the vaccine shedded and gave me spike proteinitis!

Assuming you are serious:

Bluesky is ... arguably 'federated', but it is centralized, not decentralized.

https://gigazine.net/gsc_news/en/20241128-bluesky-decentralization

Their model (AT Protocol) relies on a central, authoritative ... 'Relay', that all 'federated' users and posts on federated PDS (personal data servers) must go through, to actually reach the 'AppView', ie, what all other people/users can actually see.

So, this is not a many to many, tangled spider web of connections, the way lemmy, and other parts of the actual fediverse are.

It is a top down hierarchy, a pyramid.

collapsed inline media

And Bluesky runs the Relay, the chokepoint.

If Bluesky cuts off the PDS your account is on, everyone on it is now gone.

The actual fediverse, Mastadon, Lemmy, etc, runs on ActivityPub.

In that model... every instance is essentially self contained, and every instance that is federated communicates with every other instance that is federated.

Each instance can decide what other instances they want to federate with... and users on each instance can personally block even more other users, communities, or entire instances if they choose to, but that only effects what that particular user sees.

That is what you call decentralized, approaching, or also having elements of being 'distributed'.

collapsed inline media

To bring up an example without getting into the drama that led to it:

The 'Tankie Triad' of ml, lemmygrad and hexbear have had a number of other instances defederate from them.

But, there are also a good number of instances that have not done so.

So that means if your account is on hexbear... you can't see or post on an instamce that has blocked your instance.

But, if you (a hexbear...ian?), post on a neutral instance... users on that neutral instance will see the post.

But but, if a user from an instance that has defederated from hexbear goes to to the neutral instance... they will not see the hexbearian's post.

This sounds complicated, and it is, but ... thats the whole point of a decentralized system. It is more complex in the abstract... but the entire system ends up being more robust, more adaptable, more customizable... without a central authority in direct control of the entire system.

Technically, its complicated, but basically, NHTSA both sets the standards by which a manufacturer should assess whether or not to do a recall... and they also issue recalls themselves.

They do investigations, compile data, and if it looks like a certain make and or model has a serious flaw, they'll issue a recall if the manufacturer hasn't.

If they are gutted, specifically as they have been by Musk, well then there are no more people actually investigating self driving capabilities and onboard computers, there are no more updates to any of those policies, and nobody issues a recall for such a category of defective vehicle.

Yep, my first thought on seeing this was ... 'and who will be enforcing this?'

No one, the answer is no one.

While the information about Elon's history of making false claims, hardware and software details are accurate... there is no official body that has ruled as the title of the article suggests.

A more accurate headline would be 'should' not 'has to'.

There is basically zero chance that this guy's desire would be effectuated in the US ... as the US agency that regulates cars... was recently gutted by Musk's DOGE idiots.

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2025/04/car-safety-experts-at-nhtsa-which-regulates-tesla-axed-by-doge/

Maybe the EU or China or other governments could... legally agree with the author, and order a similar command...

But uh yeah, the Trump admin is currently blatantly telling the Supreme Court to go fuck themselves, the law will soon be whatever the hell Trump and his orbiters want it to be, has already told the entire world to go fuck themselves and also beg and grovel at the same time.

Elon would just... continue doing whatever the fuck he wants, even if another country mandated a recall/replacement.

Sorry, but uh yeah, we have a fascist government now, the rule of law is dead, the law is now whatever the fuck the Trump admin says it is.