I Complained About Starter Packs and Someone Made a Custom Feed That’s Just Me

There is a custom feed on Bluesky called “Jordan’s Lonely Pack.” It contains one account. Mine. It has 600 subscribers. They are all watching me post. Just me. Alone. In my custom feed for one.

How It Started

I joined Bluesky in early 2025 when the migration wave hit. Good platform. Nice people. Interesting features. I was having a fine time until I noticed the starter packs.

Starter packs, if you don’t know, are curated lists of accounts that people bundle together so new users can follow a whole group at once. “Climate Scientists Starter Pack.” “Indie Game Devs Starter Pack.” “Brooklyn Food Writers Starter Pack.” That kind of thing.

I wasn’t in any of them.

Not one. Not the “Portland Posters Starter Pack” even though I’ve lived in Portland for six years. Not the “Tech Workers Who Post” pack. Not even the “People Who Post Too Much” pack, which felt like it was specifically designed for me.

So I did the reasonable thing: I posted about it.

“Is anyone else getting weird exclusionary vibes from starter packs? It’s basically high school lunch tables but for adults. Very cliquey. Not what this platform should be about.”

The Response

The first reply was someone linking me to a starter pack I could have just asked to join. The second reply was someone saying “this is the most ‘not picked for dodgeball’ energy I’ve ever seen on this site.”

The third reply was a link. To a new custom feed. Made approximately fourteen minutes after my post.

The feed was called “Jordan’s Lonely Pack.”

Description: “A starter pack for anyone who wants to follow Jordan W. and only Jordan W. The anti-clique. A community of one.”

It contained my account. Only my account. Every post I made appeared in this feed, isolated, alone, context-free, like a nature documentary about a solitary animal.

The Escalation

The feed went semi-viral. 100 subscribers by end of day. Then 200. Then people started posting about it. “Just subscribed to Jordan’s Lonely Pack, really enjoying the solo content.” “The Jordan W. cinematic universe is an intimate experience.” “This is the most niche feed on Bluesky and I’m here for it.”

I should have laughed it off. Should have leaned into it. Made it my brand.

Instead, I posted: “Okay the custom feed thing is funny but it kind of proves my point about the cliquey culture here?”

Someone replied: “Jordan, you ARE a clique now. You’re a clique of one. You are both the gatekeeper and the only member. This is what you wanted.”

247 likes. I had no comeback. They were technically right.

The Worst Part

People started subscribing to my custom feed as a bit. They’d reply to my regular posts with things like “Saw this on the feed” as if it were a separate platform. Someone made fan art of my profile picture with the text “Lonely Pack Founding Member” underneath. Someone else created a starter pack called “People Who Are Not Jordan W.” that had 40 accounts in it. It was specifically everyone except me.

The original feed creator messaged me directly: “Hey, no hard feelings, I can take it down if you want.” And here’s the thing — I couldn’t ask them to take it down. Because then I’d be the person who complained about starter packs AND couldn’t take a joke. The only way out was through.

Recovery

I let it ride. After about two weeks the joke got old for most people. The feed still exists but active subscribers have dropped to the diehards. Roughly 600 people who apparently enjoy watching one person post into the void.

I’ve made peace with it. Sort of. Took the quiz on here. Got a 4. Severely Cobbed.

I also got added to three starter packs after the whole thing. Out of pity, presumably. The “Portland Posters” pack finally added me with the note “yes, that Jordan.” I’ll take it.

Five Weeks Later

I still use Bluesky. I’m careful about what I complain about now. If something feels exclusionary, I simply do not post about it. I sit with the feeling. I let it pass. I go outside. Sometimes I look at the starter packs I’m now in and feel a small, fragile warmth.

The custom feed is still there. 600 silent subscribers, watching my every post. My own personal Truman Show.

What I Learned

• If you complain about not being included, the internet will include you in the most humiliating way possible
• Custom feeds are a weapon and I was not ready
• “Cliquey” is a word that immediately identifies you as the person not in the clique
• Being a community of one is technically still a community
• The correct response to not being in a starter pack is to simply not mention it. Ever. To anyone.
• 600 people subscribing to your solo feed is either fame or surveillance and I still can’t tell which

Jordan’s Lonely Pack subscribers: 600

Starter packs currently in: 3 (pity-based)

Days since last complaint about platform culture: 35