July 10, 2026
Protocol drama: now kiss
ActivityPub over ATProto
Can these rival social networks stop fighting and just move in together already
TLDR: Robin Berjon argues two rival decentralized social systems could be combined, giving users more freedom instead of forcing a side. The community reaction is split between excited “finally, peace” energy and sharp skepticism about whether Bluesky-style systems are easy enough to use or leave.
The latest open-social showdown is less “boring standards proposal” and more family group chat meltdown. Writer Robin Berjon basically walked into the room and said: why are fans of two rival social network systems acting like they have to pick a team? His pitch is surprisingly simple in plain English: take the posting system many decentralized apps already use, and run it on top of the account system behind Bluesky. In theory, users could get easier portability and more control without throwing everything out and starting another internet civil war.
And yes, the comments immediately turned into a mini cage match. One camp was all in. “Huge fan of this concept,” cheered one commenter, while another pointed to DWebCamp as the perfect place for the two tribes to stop subtweeting each other and try some real “cross-pollination.” But skeptics were not buying the kumbaya vibes. One blunt reply basically said: cool story, but I can install an ActivityPub server today — show me the Bluesky-compatible equivalent. Ouch.
Then came the elite snobbery tier of the discourse: one commenter dropped the savage ranking “RSS/webmention > ActivityPub > ATProto,” which is internet-nerd speak for “your shiny new thing is still third place.” And the deepest anxiety in the room? Exit doors. One user asked the question hovering over all of this: if Bluesky gets too powerful, can people really leave easily? So while the article dreams of peace, the crowd is still arguing over whether this is a bridge, a bandage, or just another beautiful nerd schism waiting to happen.
Key Points
- •Robin Berjon proposes a speculative design in which ActivityPub runs on top of an AT Protocol Personal Data Server.
- •The article distinguishes ATProto from Bluesky, describing ATProto as a general protocol toolkit and Bluesky as one application built on it.
- •Berjon says ATProto offers pluggable identity and signed repositories, which can improve user control and portability.
- •The article contrasts ATProto’s user-centric model with the email-style federation model underlying ActivityPub, which it says can leave users dependent on server administrators.
- •Berjon argues that ActivityPub and Activity Streams may be adaptable to ATProto because of the indirection provided by the Actor document.