Scaling Bluesky with Paul Frazee
Paul Frazee of Bluesky discusses the evolution of the AT Protocol from early decentralized experiments like Secure Scuttlebutt to the launch of Bluesky, explaining how the team prioritized account portability and a shared data model to avoid the centralization pitfalls of previous social networks. He details the engineering challenges of scaling the platform during its viral growth, including the decision to halt invite-only access to re-architect the backend, and describes key product features like the open firehose, customizable third-party feeds, and decentralized moderation via labelers. Frazee also highlights the unexpected success of domain-based usernames for verification and the role of 'starter packs' in migrating communities from Twitter.