The Law Prof Exodus from X/Twitter to Bluesky

It looks like there are increasing numbers of law professors among those leaving X (formerly Twitter) to join Bluesky, the open social network. Mashable has a good write-up (here) exploring why people are leaving X and why they are doing so now in particularly large numbers.

A few years ago, the Law Prof Twitter census (here) listed more than 1,600 full-time law profs on X/Twitter. While there's not (yet) an accurate list of all law profs of Bluesky, there are several "starter packs" and lists to help new users get started following several law profs and law-related users. Here are some that I've stumbled across. This list is far from complete:

Law Professor Starter Pack by @lawprofblawg.bsky.social

Jedshug's Law Prof Starter Pack #3 by Jed Shugerman, @jedshug.bksky.social

Jedshug's Law Prof Starter Pack Part 2 by Jed Shugerman, @jedshug.bksky.social

Jedshug's Law Prof Starter Pack Part 1 by Jed Shugerman, @jedshug.bksky.social

LawProfs Starter Pack by Matthew Bruckner, @mbruckner.bsky.social

Lawprofs starter pack #2 by Matthew Bruckner, @mbruckner.bsky.social

Lawprofs starter pack #3 Matthew Bruckner, @mbruckner.bsky.social

Antitrust and Consumer Protection List by @lawprofblawg.bsky.social

Law Prof and Academic Refugees List by @lawprofblawg.bsky.social

US Administrative Law Starter Pack by Pat Sobkowski, @patsobkowski.com

Law Professors List by Colin Miller, @evidenceprof.bsky.social

Evidence law academics Starter Pack by Colin Miller, @evidenceprof.bsky.social

Ethics and Professional Responsibility Law Profs Starter Pack by Maybell Romero, @maybell.bsky.social

CrimProfs at American Law Schools Starter Pack by Maybell Romero, @maybell.bsky.social

Gender Law Profs Starter Pack by Tracy Thomas, @proftracythomas.bsky.social

Tax Law Profs Starter Pack by me, Bridget Crawford, @profbcrawford.bsky.social

Trusts and Estates Law Profs Starter Pack by me, Bridget Crawford, @profbcrawford.bsky.social

Michigan Law Professors Starter Pack by @umichlaw.bsky.social

U.S. Law Schools Starter Pack by Sarah Fackrell Burnstein, @design-law.bsky.social

Added to initial post:

IP Profs Starter Pack by Jeanne Fromer, @jeannefromer.bsky.social

Repro Law Profs Starter Pack by David S. Cohen, @dsc250.bsky.social

There's some duplication among these lists, for sure.

I'd be happy to add more starter packs/lists to this post, if folks send the info my way, either in the comments or via DM.

Comments

[Jennifer Hendricks]

Repro Law Profs, by David Cohen, https://bsky.app/starter-pack/dsc250.bsky.social/3lbawdsjchp2d

[anon]

The linked piece explains the obvious "point" of this. There appears to be no platform superiority issue here (in terms of function, etc.).

Rather, this appears to be a way of demonstrating to others one's "choice" to use an internet tool based on one's opinion of the politics of the owner of the tool. BTW, T's platform appears to be based on the same.

The giants dwarf these numbers of course. This is a contest not been Coke and Pepsi; this is a contest between Tab and Surge. At least with soda, it is the user who tastes the difference, not an unreasoning herd stampeding prove its virtue to itself!

Is there any doubt about the politics of the law professoriate? It is always amazing to think that these folks fear no one (else) knows.

Of course no one (else) knows!

They are mistaking lack interest for lack of awareness. Only the members of this isolated and mainly irrelevant clique care about what the members of this isolated clique care about.

Here should be a "starter kit" to help foster understanding:

spoiledandboredtesladrivingvirtuesignalers
withnothingbettertodourinatinginthewind (at) whysky

[A non]

Yes! Yes! Yes! Ensure your bubble is protected from outside information. Ensure that your messaging predominates! After all, how can you police the discourses if you don't have monopoly control over the information supply?

It's not as if the mask isn't off now, anyway. Everyone, across the Global South, and even allies in other Western countries, from the left to the right, sees clear as day that you're evil totalitarians. Welcome to a new status quo: the world's understanding that YOU'RE the bad guys.

(I wonder if Steve Vladeck understands that about himself now; that he's no less a totalitarian than Baruch Charney, and that his entire life's work is rightfully perceived as disingenuous propaganda.)

The idea of 'boycotting a service based on its owner' is obviously a ludicrous, false explanation as well. It didn't lead you to move from X until you lost the election. Certainly much of the real/open left across the world won't be abandoning X for your reasons. https://leiterreports.typepad.com/blog/2024/11/if-you-are-staying-on-twitterx-why.html

Given that you're anti-truth totalitarians who created banana republic/Soviet-style kangaroo courts and perpetrated lawfare for several years now, it will be interesting to see whether liberal and left colleagues in more civilized countries will start to boycott you en masse. (They already know that most of your "scholarship" isn't up to snuff anyway.) You will never recover from the reputational damage of the last few years.

And regular Americans are not only beginning to see you as pseudo-epistemic authorities, but also as their enemy. You are the enemy of the US Constitution. You are the enemy of the rule of law. You are the enemy of democracy.

You are instead totalitarian would-be social engineers without the actual (empirically-grounded-and-tested) knowledge and skills to accomplish your aims. You also undoubtedly lack the cultural capital to have any credibility across the globe anymore for other countries and cultures to believe, for even one moment, that you have credible answers for how others should live and structure their societies.

You don't need to reply. After all, no want wants a dialogue with interlocutors who can ONLY be relied upon to lie and spin.

The next few years are going to be SO MUCH worse for you than you might think.

[anon]

The problem as I see it is that the more that the "left" isolates, the more it will lose any way to temper its extreme views.
The "left" has long decried the "extreme right wing" bubble, while ignoring the extent to which its membership and influence has been slowly relegated to elites communicating with one another in obscure, isolated venues.
If these elites retreat even further from the mores and realities of the life of most Americans, then their "values" will become even more twisted and extreme.
The answer isn't to run away, as demonstrated on this blog. The answer is to engage and persuade, if one can.