My Response to the Bluesky Community Guidelines Feedback Form

In an effort to encourage participation and combat learned helplessness, as well as share my own thoughts, I have decided to dedicate the entry inaugurating Rondo of Blog's leaflet.pub mirror to recording my response to Bluesky's updated Community Guidelines that I gave in the feedback form they provided.

I have made no secret of my fondness for Bluesky and my investment in its success. I think it's a great thing that they've opened up to feedback from their users, and I bristle at the learned helplessness I've been seeing in the wake of it.

I encourage everyone reading this to make sure Bluesky hears from them regarding these updated guidelines, as you are as much a part of Bluesky as anyone else and this attempt to solicit participation from the users would be incomplete without you.

So, without further ado, here was my response.

How clearly do the Community Guidelines communicate what is acceptable behavior on Bluesky?

Somewhat unclearly.

Comments (optional)

In "2. Safety First," there is language regarding the posting of sexual content on the network. I understand the utility of speaking broadly, but I do think artists are owed a more explicit affirmation of your commitment to letting them post adult content on your service than to say they are not preventing from posting content that involves depictions of "sensitive topics" if appropriately labeled.

In "5. Follow the Rules," we are instructed not to break the law "or violate safety rules" - I understand you have to enforce both of these, but I don't think we need the waters muddied between where the law ends and where safety rules begin.

Furthermore, regarding the instruction not to post or engage in sharing any content "that depicts, simulates, or is AI-generated CSAM (child sexual abuse material)" including "illustrated or animated sexualized depictions of minors." To the extent this prevents people from illustrating or animating depictions of real-life minors, it's a good rule. However, that is as far as it should go and it should be more clear if that is the extent to which you want it to go.

Are there any guidelines that you feel are overly restrictive or unclear?

Please specify and explain your concern.

The Safety First and Follow the Rules guidelines are unclear on what they are disallowing as it relates to the posting of sexual content. In being unclear, it opens the door to a moderator being overly restrictive of content that simply makes them unhappy or uncomfortable. This is somewhat inevitable, as it is an uncomfortable subject, in which a lot of the material that may or may not be moderated are things that make me personally uncomfortable.

However, as someone with formally-diagnosed PTSD who was taken sexually advantage of as a small child, something I have had to come to accept in my adulthood is that there are going to be times in my life where I am uncomfortable (in a variety of subjects, including this) where the correct response is not to censor but to coexist.

Don't get me wrong, I believe all sexual content should be labeled - either by the user themself or automatically by the Bluesky moderation service! But the moderation service as it exists now is something that empowers user choice, that lets us decide what we're comfortable with seeing without overreaching into territory belonging to one's parent or legal guardian.

It is deeply important to me that this aspect of the network be protected, even when it's uncomfortable - in fact, especially when it's uncomfortable. The human experience is vast, to try to limit the expression of such a fundamental aspect of it would devastate the network.

We are living in scary times and there is as much fear powering complying in advance as there is fear of the institutions around us complying in advance.

Are there any important guidelines or areas related to user safety that you believe are missing or underrepresented?

Please specify and explain your concern.

The safety of adult content creators is underrepresented in the Community Guidelines in their current state, and this must be addressed when you have finished recording the feedback from this and adjust accordingly.

Bluesky is the first network I've ever been on that has made me feel safe from harassment. As such, I believe it is only fair that users should feel safe in posting adult content on the network.

Beyond the guidelines themselves, are there broader moderation or safety concerns that Bluesky should address?

Please specify and explain your concern.

A line must always be drawn somewhere and I appreciate that it's your job to find it, but there must also be reason for the users to trust the network.

I run custom feeds and see a much larger sample of the network than many users do, and a lot of what I see is adult content. It is from this vantage point that I assert that most users already have a good idea of where the line goes and I urge Bluesky to trust them as much as you wish for us to trust you.

Any other comments or feedback you would like to provide:

When you come back from having gathered feedback, I hope you do so with a robust renewal of your commitment to supporting the adult content creators on the network.