I'll post this as a top level comment, because I think it is crucial: A few people are saying that it is expensive to run a relay but others have done it for as low as $34/month [1]. So unless somebody presents other proof that it is expensive I would say that those posters are either wrong and trying to mislead us on purpose.

Edit: actually the article links to somebody doing it for $18/month.

[1] https://whtwnd.com/bnewbold.net/3lo7a2a4qxg2l

Some more background and a user report of the migration process: https://gregpak.net/2025/11/13/how-and-why-i-moved-from-a-bl...

Crucially, the purpose of Blacksky is to provide a service for the (US) black community which has its own moderation decisions while being substantially interoperable.

(Remember, the reasons people use one social network rather than another are almost always social first and technical second, where the social functions are enabled or hindered by the technology)

Censorship here is specifically moderation of discussion of political assassinations, and NSFW fetish art work? I think its good to have a space for people to do "shadow work", but also I'm terrified by the path that neo-facist idiology took from 4chan /pol -> gaming culture -> the white house.

Some previous Blacksky discussion:

Blacksky grew to millions of users without spending a dollar

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45018773

Is this self imposed segregation?

The "decentralization" of Bluesky is a joke.

Despite its faults ActivityPub is superior.