Article:
Bluesky, the decentralized social network, announced on Friday that it has reached a new milestone of 40 million users and revealed plans to begin testing a “dislikes” feature aimed at improving feed personalization.

The “dislikes” beta will allow users to signal which posts they want to see less of. Over time, this feedback will help Bluesky tailor content rankings not only in main feeds like Discover but also in reply threads, prioritizing more relevant and engaging conversations for individual users.

The feature is part of a broader suite of updates focused on improving conversation quality and user control. These include:

• Enhanced detection of toxic, spammy, or off-topic replies, which will be downranked in feeds, search results, and notifications.
• Tweaks to the Reply button, now directing users to the full thread before composing a response, helping to reduce redundant replies and content collapse.
• Improved visibility of reply settings, allowing users to control who can respond to their posts.
• Introduction of “social neighborhoods,” a system mapping interactions between users to prioritize replies from people closer to a user’s network, creating a more familiar and relevant conversation experience.

Bluesky emphasizes that these changes are designed to foster “fun, genuine, and respectful exchanges,” addressing ongoing criticism over moderation practices. While the platform allows users to manage their own moderation through tools such as block lists, content filters, muted words, and moderation service subscriptions, the company is focusing on enhancing these user-controlled experiences rather than imposing centralized bans.

Other notable updates include design changes and feedback tools to make conversations clearer and more user-friendly. With these improvements, Bluesky aims to avoid the confusing feed issues seen on competitor Threads, where users sometimes struggle to understand who is replying to whom.

Overall, the addition of “dislikes” and other personalization and moderation tools represents Bluesky’s continued effort to scale responsibly while keeping user experience and conversation quality at the forefront.