Laurens
@laurenshof.online
I care about an ethical internet.
I write about Bluesky and the ATmosphere at connectedplaces.online
🇳🇱, mostly post in English
https://ger.mx/A7wQM6oeukC5_1J8D27CvfjlUAaep5t2rcwmqEvVRRLk#did:plc:mdjhvva6vlrswsj26cftjttd
I write about Bluesky and the ATmosphere at connectedplaces.online
🇳🇱, mostly post in English
https://ger.mx/A7wQM6oeukC5_1J8D27CvfjlUAaep5t2rcwmqEvVRRLk#did:plc:mdjhvva6vlrswsj26cftjttd
Pinned
Laurens
@laurenshof.online
· 26d
X Is a Power Problem, Not a Platform Problem
my analysis of current events
connectedplaces.online/reports/a-po...
my analysis of current events
connectedplaces.online/reports/a-po...
Reposted by Laurens
"Why do people keep calling for a 'European X' or a 'European Instagram' when instead, by sharing infrastructure as we're doing with @eurosky.social, we could have 20 or 30 social networks?" — @seabass.bsky.social
February 5, 2026 at 11:36 AM
"Why do people keep calling for a 'European X' or a 'European Instagram' when instead, by sharing infrastructure as we're doing with @eurosky.social, we could have 20 or 30 social networks?" — @seabass.bsky.social
Pretty sure this is what they meant with “the purpose of a system is what it does”
February 4, 2026 at 3:10 PM
Pretty sure this is what they meant with “the purpose of a system is what it does”
The goal of going to museums is to build a collection of weird baby jesuses
February 4, 2026 at 3:06 PM
The goal of going to museums is to build a collection of weird baby jesuses
Reposted by Laurens
January 30, 2026 at 6:54 PM
do i ever have something for you if youre into political yaoi analysis
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8m5_...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8m5_...
Lumie's Political Yaoi Dating Simulator Master Diagram (WITH EVIDENCE)
YouTube video by Lumie
www.youtube.com
January 30, 2026 at 2:06 PM
do i ever have something for you if youre into political yaoi analysis
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8m5_...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8m5_...
Reposted by Laurens
Custom feeds are not communities. But they can become commons.
Custom Feeds Are Not Communities — A Design Theory of Feeds and Commons
plurality.leaflet.pub
January 29, 2026 at 12:49 PM
Custom feeds are not communities. But they can become commons.
Reposted by Laurens
Shout out to @laurenshof.online for yet another incredibly thoughtful take on Open Social, this time exploring the news around TikTok's sale and video on ATproto.
Thank you for including @skylight.social! ✨
Thank you for including @skylight.social! ✨
new from me: Musk buying Twitter has strongly impacted the cultures of the atmosphere and the fediverse. What impact will TikTok's new US ownership have on the open social web?
connectedplaces.online/reports/fr15...
connectedplaces.online/reports/fr15...
FR#151 – TikTok Won’t Be Another Twitter
The conditions that made 'leaving Twitter' a meaningful part of the open social web's identity don't exist for TikTok. What happens when people can't see each other leave?
connectedplaces.online
January 29, 2026 at 8:58 PM
Shout out to @laurenshof.online for yet another incredibly thoughtful take on Open Social, this time exploring the news around TikTok's sale and video on ATproto.
Thank you for including @skylight.social! ✨
Thank you for including @skylight.social! ✨
new from me: Musk buying Twitter has strongly impacted the cultures of the atmosphere and the fediverse. What impact will TikTok's new US ownership have on the open social web?
connectedplaces.online/reports/fr15...
connectedplaces.online/reports/fr15...
FR#151 – TikTok Won’t Be Another Twitter
The conditions that made 'leaving Twitter' a meaningful part of the open social web's identity don't exist for TikTok. What happens when people can't see each other leave?
connectedplaces.online
January 29, 2026 at 6:21 PM
new from me: Musk buying Twitter has strongly impacted the cultures of the atmosphere and the fediverse. What impact will TikTok's new US ownership have on the open social web?
connectedplaces.online/reports/fr15...
connectedplaces.online/reports/fr15...
id love to see this being done grassroots a la standard.site or community.lexicon, good opportunity for community members to set defaults on how bots should behave and be declared
Basically, yes, bots need to self label, have a declared human guardian, have clear rules of operation, and probably some other things. And it would be great if they were easy to not see
January 29, 2026 at 5:33 PM
id love to see this being done grassroots a la standard.site or community.lexicon, good opportunity for community members to set defaults on how bots should behave and be declared
Reposted by Laurens
This piece is incredibly important for understanding the Trump administration and what happens next. There's a stochastic element to what they do, because social media algorithms are central, not incidental, to government policy www.theverge.com/news/869824/...
What is Nick Shirley?
Slop doesn’t need to be AI-generated
www.theverge.com
January 29, 2026 at 5:00 PM
This piece is incredibly important for understanding the Trump administration and what happens next. There's a stochastic element to what they do, because social media algorithms are central, not incidental, to government policy www.theverge.com/news/869824/...
Reposted by Laurens
Here you go Pam Bondi www.theverge.com/policy/86857...
Best gas masks
“How did these people go out and get gas masks?” AG Bondi asked.
www.theverge.com
January 29, 2026 at 1:40 PM
Here you go Pam Bondi www.theverge.com/policy/86857...
Reposted by Laurens
Reposted by Laurens
recorded a Windows 95 full disk defrag to soothe your timeline.
January 29, 2026 at 9:48 AM
recorded a Windows 95 full disk defrag to soothe your timeline.
out of curiosity, whats your consideration for streamplace over owncast or peertube livestreaming?
January 29, 2026 at 12:04 PM
out of curiosity, whats your consideration for streamplace over owncast or peertube livestreaming?
Reposted by Laurens
Loving that the @ec.europa.eu is faster in processing freedom of information requests from the US DOJ than from Europeans — only to then be called "Leftist Euro bureaucrats" and "misinformation pseudoscientists".
No kink-shaming but can the Commission maybe stop with the humiliation fetish?
No kink-shaming but can the Commission maybe stop with the humiliation fetish?
Are you wondering why the legal decision on X's fine was first published by the US House of Representatives rather than by the European Commission?
Us too.
Especially as we officially requested it to the Commission 3 weeks ago:
www.asktheeu.org/request/deci...
Us too.
Especially as we officially requested it to the Commission 3 weeks ago:
www.asktheeu.org/request/deci...
Decision to impose fine on X - a Freedom of Information request to Communications Networks, Content and Technology
As soon as it becomes legally possible to do so, please provide access to the formal decision of the Commission, announced on 5 December 2025, to impose a fine on X for non-compliance with the Digital...
www.asktheeu.org
January 29, 2026 at 11:53 AM
Loving that the @ec.europa.eu is faster in processing freedom of information requests from the US DOJ than from Europeans — only to then be called "Leftist Euro bureaucrats" and "misinformation pseudoscientists".
No kink-shaming but can the Commission maybe stop with the humiliation fetish?
No kink-shaming but can the Commission maybe stop with the humiliation fetish?
Reposted by Laurens
From Politico, @bartgroothuis.bsky.social @barbarakathmann.bsky.social and me on how the Netherlands is about to see its national government service login infrastructure move to US spying/sanction regulation: www.politico.eu/article/neth... #digid
The Netherlands rethinks its US tech addiction
Dutch society is built on US digital services. That’s now seen as a glaring security issue.
www.politico.eu
January 29, 2026 at 9:09 AM
From Politico, @bartgroothuis.bsky.social @barbarakathmann.bsky.social and me on how the Netherlands is about to see its national government service login infrastructure move to US spying/sanction regulation: www.politico.eu/article/neth... #digid
Reposted by Laurens
🗣️ #PfP✨London SPEAKER SPOTLIGHT: Laurens
📰 Reading: newpublic.substack.c...
💬 Quote: "Europe can incrementally build sovereign capacity within an open global network, ensuring that European standards and values are embedded in the foundations of future social infrastructure."
📰 Reading: newpublic.substack.c...
💬 Quote: "Europe can incrementally build sovereign capacity within an open global network, ensuring that European standards and values are embedded in the foundations of future social infrastructure."
January 29, 2026 at 9:01 AM
🗣️ #PfP✨London SPEAKER SPOTLIGHT: Laurens
📰 Reading: newpublic.substack.c...
💬 Quote: "Europe can incrementally build sovereign capacity within an open global network, ensuring that European standards and values are embedded in the foundations of future social infrastructure."
📰 Reading: newpublic.substack.c...
💬 Quote: "Europe can incrementally build sovereign capacity within an open global network, ensuring that European standards and values are embedded in the foundations of future social infrastructure."
no you do speak dutch, you just have to get drunk first
January 29, 2026 at 9:14 AM
no you do speak dutch, you just have to get drunk first
Reposted by Laurens
no, only half of them are. as soon as you like a post, your account is visible on the firehose and you show up in the 1.5M DAU that edavis's charts report
January 28, 2026 at 5:47 PM
no, only half of them are. as soon as you like a post, your account is visible on the firehose and you show up in the 1.5M DAU that edavis's charts report
helpful heuristic: actual active user statistics for Bluesky that accounts for lurkers is firehose-visible active users times two
so actual MAU is around 12M, DAU around 3M
bskycharts.edavis.dev/edavis.dev/b...
so actual MAU is around 12M, DAU around 3M
bskycharts.edavis.dev/edavis.dev/b...
January 28, 2026 at 5:36 PM
helpful heuristic: actual active user statistics for Bluesky that accounts for lurkers is firehose-visible active users times two
so actual MAU is around 12M, DAU around 3M
bskycharts.edavis.dev/edavis.dev/b...
so actual MAU is around 12M, DAU around 3M
bskycharts.edavis.dev/edavis.dev/b...
Reposted by Laurens
The way to act is not by depreciating € to bolster exports, but by using causes behind euro appreciation as alibi to increase joint & several fiscal spending funded by ROW, thus boosting € internationalization & reducing vulnerability to US sanctions and surveillance, you morons.
ECB Would Need To Act If Euro Keeps Gaining, Says Austria’s C Bank Gov – FT
January 28, 2026 at 5:36 AM
The way to act is not by depreciating € to bolster exports, but by using causes behind euro appreciation as alibi to increase joint & several fiscal spending funded by ROW, thus boosting € internationalization & reducing vulnerability to US sanctions and surveillance, you morons.