A New Approach to Healthier Online Discourse

Bluesky is experimenting with a dislike button and social proximity features designed to improve the quality of conversations on its platform. The decentralized social network is testing these tools as part of a broader initiative to create more meaningful and respectful online interactions.

Understanding Social Proximity

At the core of Bluesky’s latest experiments is the concept of “social proximity”—a system that maps users’ place within their “social neighborhood” of people they already interact with or would likely enjoy knowing. By prioritizing replies and posts from users within these defined neighborhoods, Bluesky aims to make conversations feel more relevant, familiar, and less prone to misunderstandings.

The Dislike Button Beta

The private dislike button is being rolled out to help the algorithm understand what types of content users prefer to see less of in their Discover feed. Beyond feed personalization, dislike signals will influence reply rankings in both individual threads and across the social neighborhoods of other users. This approach allows the platform to learn user preferences without making dislikes visible to others.

Additional Conversation Improvements

Bluesky is also implementing several complementary changes to foster better interactions:

• Reply visibility adjustments that show users the complete thread before composing a response, rather than immediately opening a blank post
• Enhanced detection systems for identifying and handling toxic or low-quality replies
• Reply controls that allow users to choose who can respond to their content

The platform has rolled out other moderation tools including moderation lists, content filters, muted words, and the ability to subscribe to third-party moderation service providers.

Context and Momentum

These experiments arrive as Bluesky announced reaching 40 million users, marking significant growth for the platform. The timing reflects Bluesky’s commitment to providing users with greater control over their experience while maintaining a decentralized approach to moderation—a philosophy that distinguishes it from traditional social media platforms.

The initiatives showcase Bluesky’s strategy to prioritize user agency and conversation quality as it continues its expansion in the social media landscape.

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