Given how Bluesky has been handling moderation recently (and not so recently...) I've seen many folks looking for alternatives to Bluesky. This How-To will be geared to the folks specifically in my community (fandom creators) but hopefully others will find it useful as well.

Good news, you don't have to! Since Bluesky was built on an open protocol (called ATProto), it's possible for communities to create their own servers (called a PDS) that are able to host the same data Bluesky currently does. One such PDS, and as of this writing, the second largest non-Bluesky PDS, is Blacksky. Blacksky was created initially to provide a safe digital space for Black and other marginalized folks when Bluesky's approach to moderation proved unsatisfactory. You can read a much better explanation of what Blacksky is about on their website here.

You keep all the people you follow/people following you, likes, feeds, and such. The only immediately noticeable change will be your @ handle.

Leaving Bluesky for Blacksky means your account and your data will fall under the Blacksky TOS and Privacy Policy. I highly recommend reading both before proceeding in case there's something you don't vibe with. The Blacksky community is currently in the process of collaboratively creating their own Community Guidelines.

Once you migrate to Blacksky, you cannot migrate back to Bluesky (for now), but there is the potential to migrate to another PDS in the future. For what it's worth, I currently trust Blacksky's moderation team over Bluesky's based on how Bluesky has handled several high-profile cases (Jesse Singal, JKR, UK laws, comments on Charlie Kirk, etc).

With the PDS MOOver! Or with Tektite. Both accomplish the same thing, and both have tutorial videos linked at the top of each page. Some folks might find Tektite a little smoother as the domain for your new account handle is a simple selection between two options rather than having to type it in. [tho I believe Bailey is working on adding that to PDS MOOver]

Follow the steps in the provided tutorial videos! Note that it will be easiest on a computer and you need to have Two-factor authentication (2FA) disabled. Heed the warnings regarding risk of data loss. Note: You no longer need an invite code at this time.

There are TWO possible handle domains on Blacksky:

Choose whichever is appropriate for you! For example, my handle would change: bisprout.bsky.social to bisprout.blackskycomra.de.

Once you hit migrate, the migration progress will begin and it will take some time. Leave the tab open and let the blobs do their thing. For me, it took about 5 minutes, but it could be longer or shorter depending on how many folks are trying to migrate at the time.

When the blobs are all moved around, you should see something like below. Check your email and paste in the code.

Then bam! You're on the Blacksky PDS.

We're not done yet though. If you go and refresh Bluesky, you'll find yourself logged out. That's because your old account (@.bsky.social) no longer exists. So you need to sign in with your new handle on the Blacksky PDS. To do this, you can click the little pencil to select a custom account provider. It should open something that looks like this, where you can type in the address for the Blacksky PDS: https://blacksky.app.

Then sign in with your new handle (with either blacksky.app or blackskycomra.de). Now you should be good to go!