Post

P(aul) Frazee
@pfrazee.com

One thing I want to make clear! If you set your username to a domain, you can change it later without any loss to your account. Let me step through some scenarios:

P(aul) Frazee
@pfrazee.com

Scenario: I set my username to pfrazee.com but forget to renew the domain name, and I lose it Outcome: When it expires, the servers notice and will stay "Invalid handle" on my account Solution: I change my username to something else. I don't lose my account or followers

18 reposts335 likes

P(aul) Frazee
@pfrazee.com

This came up in the context of orgs setting subdomains for their members. There ARE effects to doing that. Web links to your profile or posts depend on your username. But I did want to make it very clear, it only affects your username. An org-given username does not hand over control beyond that.

Scott Armitage
@astroscott.bsky.social

They’re building something intended to outlast the company itself; so solutions that rely on Bluesky the company are inherently flawed. Domain based verification is used in the SSL certificate world too, see the DNS challenge here letsencrypt.org/docs/challen...

letsencrypt.orgChallenge TypesWhen you get a certificate from Let’s Encrypt, our servers validate that you control the domain names in that certificate using “challenges,” as defined by the ACME standard. Most of the time, this va...
4dewin
@4de.win

But weblinks to your profile can (and sometimes already do?) use your DID instead. There should be a setting for that, actually, because I sometimes link posts in my notes for reference, and having a link with a DID instead of handle makes it hardened against "handle rot".

Johnny Normality (Spooky Mode)
@probgobl.in

If I run an org and have employees use a subdomain as their handle, can I change that handle? Scenario: An employee provides me his DID. I create the record for phil.timmons@my.thing. Due to events beyond MY control I decide his handle should be big.fartass@my.thing. Can I just set a new DNS entry?

Eli Mallon
@iame.li

The employee would have to also choose to migrate to the new handle but yeah, no problems there. If you just change it and nobody does anything on the account you’d get an [invalid handle] situation

Jef Kazimer 😶‍🌫️ 🆔
@jeftek.com

So let’s say I have a domain based handle associated to my did of my employer today and I post some things that have context today. Flash forward 3 years I have a new employer and I update my handle with a new domain based handle. If someone reads my posts from 3 years ago which handle is shown?

R Sitze
@rd.sitze.net

Ah, I know this one! In the current Bluesky code base, your posts show your current handle and address, for all posts past and current.

Jef Kazimer 😶‍🌫️ 🆔
@jeftek.com

Oof. So that can be misleading if people make certain assumptions based on current handle on past posts. The association authority at post time is lost. Perhaps there should be a history of handles contained on a profile and posts should refer to that based on post time. Hmmmm.

R Sitze
@rd.sitze.net

My single test that showed this is I changed my domain to it's current setting from one I decided I didn't like. Some hundreds of posts in. My entire post history shows my current one. No trace of the one I abandoned.

AJ
@goldman60.nclf.net

Do we have an easy way to generate a link to our profile's DID somewhere? I want to swap it over to that on sites I use infrequently so they stay pointed correctly

Colin Godsey
@colingodsey.com

Hmm wonder if it's worth adding a "share permalink" or some equivalent to the menu for profiles. It's not super easy to get a did link to a profile otherwise

Matt
@mawburn.com

Why not redirect back to your new name if that happens? Similar to how github handles it. At least for the post level, assuming the post still exists. I feel like this is a pretty good incentive to not attach your account to an org, otherwise. Even good people leave good companies.

SylvieTG
@sylvietg.me

Orgs should always set up org-specific accounts, to be honest. If your PR guy leaves, do you really want to lose all the eyeballs, too? Typically, you'd have your own email domain, etc. so that when someone leaves, you retain control of that data - why wouldn't you do the same for Bluesky?

Missino
@onedeuxtriseigo.nullpo.dev

Is there a reason why the bluesky webapp and native apps prefer handle name based links instead of DID based links? I feel like defaulting to DIDs would help protect against linkrot and name hijacking abuses. Especially for users like journalists who's handles are subdomains of their employers.

Joe Fabisevich
@mergesort.me

Is there a way to avoid this, like if you link to posts with a did identifier rather than username-based link? I feel like this could become a big issue, and why Twitter links to posts rendered based on status id no matter what username was used in the link.

Aaron Mills 🏳️‍⚧️
@cloudhunter.co.uk

I feel like there's ways of fixing that, but it would be complicated as IIRC the record ID is not unique. But the AppView could store when indexing a post/record: DID Index time Record ID Based on that, and knowledge of what handle a DID was using at the time, the right profile could be found.

Natanael, Tech janitor
@natanael.bsky.social

You can give them a subdomain independently of PDS account hosting. If you're hosting their entire account in your PDS you definitely need to consider legality of content. You can nuke an account you host If you lend a subdomain it's more a reputational issue than legal (usually)

Lisa
@lisafedica.bsky.social

I work with Fedica - it lets you save drafts, cross post and schedule up to 10 posts at a time for free. bsky.app/profile/fedi...

Fedica@fedica.com

Friendly reminder to all the newskies: You can schedule posts, threads, media, alt text, and auto-link-cards, for free :) This is how to set it up👇

fedica.comBluesky Publishing Just Launched!Fedica is the first to support Bluesky Publishing. Join the Fediverse, stay ahead of the curve, and publish to 7 platforms with Fedica!
bus enjoyer
@intersections.bsky.social

Guess the move is to try to maintain control of both your new domain handle and any previous handles, until bsky offers support for redirects as discussed here: github.com/bluesky-soci...

github.comOption to redirect from the bsky.social handle to a custom domain instead of freeing the bsky.social handle · Issue #5904 · bluesky-social/social-appDescribe the Feature According to the documentation: "Note: if you change your default Bluesky username (with the .bsky.social suffix) to a custom domain, your old username will be available for so...
Noelle Devoe
@noelledevoe.com

Are there any plans to fix the links breaking issue? It's not ideal considering it seems like, with domain validation being the main form of validation, one's username could change relatively often.

Leo Gonzaga
@leogcosta.bsky.social

Ok, what about the reader's perspective? If a journalist/company is verified by Bsky, I assume the post is genuine. But if it is verified by domain and it is not a widely recognized domain (like nytimes) or a newly registered domain, how many steps to confirm that a post I read on Bsky is authentic?

Leo Gonzaga
@leogcosta.bsky.social

I read a post on Bsky, then go to the website to confirm the legitimacy of the person who posted it, then go to whois.com and confirm the legitimacy of the website (assuming that the information there is correct)? So many scenarios that even these checks do not guarantee authenticity...