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How Wafrn's Bluesky Integration works

I have seen some people that it is bridged, even me said it, but no, it is not a bridge.

So here's how it works:

Standard cross-posting services

Let's run into your standard, run-in-the-mill cross-posting services. These are things that cross-posts someone's account to one service to another.

Diagram of Alice's post cross-posted to 2 services, Mastodon and Bluesky

These are easier, and allows for existing accounts to work but they usually contain the interactions on the platform, and doesn't send them to the other platform. Yes, there is things like backfeeding but most services doesn't do it.

Diagram of Alice's account interactions on both the Fediverse and Bluesky

Bridging services

Bridging services (like Bridgy Fed) bridges your account info, posts, and other stuff to another services, for example, you have a Bluesky account, but want to also make your posts visible on the Fediverse. Instead of creating an account on the Fediverse and solve the never-ending question of "what instance and software?", you use something like Bridgy Fed to bridge the posts for you.

Diagram of Alice's account on Bluesky bridged to the Fediverse using Bridgy Fed

This allows you to recieve interactions to other users BUT it requires them to enable the same bridge as you on most bridging services due to privacy reasons, and requires an additional hop to the user.

Diagram of Alice's account on Bluesky bridged to the Fediverse using Bridgy Fed, with interactions from Carol and Bob, and failed interaction from Dave due to not having Bridgy Fed enabled

But, it is vastly better than cross-posting, and doesn't require you to juggle around multiple accounts to post the same thing.

Now, how Wafrn differs?

Wafrn is not a protocol bridge, nor it is a cross-posting platform. It natively supports both protocols (Bluesky which is the AT Protocol, and the Fediverse which is ActivityPub), hence it is usually called a "multi-protocol platform".

Diagram of Alice's account on Wafrn

Unlike a cross-posting service, this natively posts on both and have support on both platforms, and unlike a bridging service, this doesn't need opt-in and allows both platforms to interact with you with native-lavel support.

Diagram of Alice's account on Wafrn, with interactions from Carol (from Bluesky), Bob (from Sharkey) and Dave (from Akkoma)

Now, not saying that the first 2 are bad, but if you want the best of both worlds, you should consider switching to Wafrn!

But seriously...

Wafrn has more things to give, like long, very long posts, CSS crimes, and a fun and enjoyable community, so what are you waiting for, switch to or self-host Wafrn!

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