Thread of 7 posts2 min read

Why Frontpage doesn't show Bluesky comments

  1. When we were first building Frontpage we went back on forth on whether to include Bluesky comments. One possible vibe for Frontpage was a collation of all discussion around a specific link. It still is tbf, and maybe some day we figure it out but it turns out to be a really hard UX problem

    Bluesky post· 17.12.2025, 08:12
    Erlend Sogge Heggen @erlend.sh

    Still feels like a critically missed opportunity for @leaflet.pub to not interop with Bluesky for comments. For someone who discovered this article via leaflet itself or any medium other than *sky, there’s absolutely no sign of the generative discussion that ensued on-feed, nor its likes/shares. 🧵

    Leaflet comments on leaflet post.
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  2. As soon as you show threads from more than one source you run into a bunch of challenges and questions Firstly, should a user on Frontpage be able to interact with these comment threads from external apps?

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  3. If you answer yes then it leads to questions around user intent. How do you make it clear to the user that they are participating not just on Frontpage, but also on this external app. That app could have different vibes but also technical stuff like comment length has to be considered

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  4. It also presents a problem of permissions; Frontpage would need permission to create Bluesky records. This would need to be carefully designed (maybe as an additional consent flow) and explained to the user, it could weird some people out

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  5. Another technique could be to present these threads as read only, with the Frontpage comments as the only place where you can participate in the discussion. This is quite the design challenge because it fuses two different intents: participation and discovery.

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  6. I think to sum up - a lot of this problem space collapses and becomes easy if you just use a single source for comments, like Bluesky. In the end, apps want the ability to create their own conventions, community, vibes, memes etc.

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  7. Adopting multiple sources dilutes this ability and could force the discussions into some lowest common denominator territory, or just enhance Bluesky's centralisation powers

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