Luke Alexander
@lukealexander.co.uk
Reposted by Luke Alexander
It’s 2011. Your friend is the community manager at a new media startup disrupting the birthday card space. They’re launching a limited run of 38 monochromatic animal shape prints. The proceeds go to charity. Your friend got the job after commenting a lot on the company’s Tumblr.
January 27, 2026 at 8:03 PM
It’s 2011. Your friend is the community manager at a new media startup disrupting the birthday card space. They’re launching a limited run of 38 monochromatic animal shape prints. The proceeds go to charity. Your friend got the job after commenting a lot on the company’s Tumblr.
Reposted by Luke Alexander
Also, not impressed with "will require identification and photo validation." You're totally missing the point and just creating a privacy nightmare.
If you want a European social media effort, look at @eurosky.social or various ActivityPub efforts. Don't build some new proprietary platform.
If you want a European social media effort, look at @eurosky.social or various ActivityPub efforts. Don't build some new proprietary platform.
January 20, 2026 at 11:52 PM
Also, not impressed with "will require identification and photo validation." You're totally missing the point and just creating a privacy nightmare.
If you want a European social media effort, look at @eurosky.social or various ActivityPub efforts. Don't build some new proprietary platform.
If you want a European social media effort, look at @eurosky.social or various ActivityPub efforts. Don't build some new proprietary platform.
Reposted by Luke Alexander
They also just reported, without further comment, the phrase ‘X say they take a zero tolerance policy on the posting of child sexual abusive material on the site’ and it makes me feel insane - IT’S THEM POSTING IT, AND THEY HAVEN’T STOPPED!
January 15, 2026 at 7:07 AM
They also just reported, without further comment, the phrase ‘X say they take a zero tolerance policy on the posting of child sexual abusive material on the site’ and it makes me feel insane - IT’S THEM POSTING IT, AND THEY HAVEN’T STOPPED!
Reposted by Luke Alexander
But yeah, there is still every chance that exactly the same crimes can be committed against British women and children, they’ll just now have no direct evidence that it’s happened.
Musk is fighting hard to keep CSAM and exploitative material on Twitter. That’s the story.
Musk is fighting hard to keep CSAM and exploitative material on Twitter. That’s the story.
January 15, 2026 at 6:48 AM
But yeah, there is still every chance that exactly the same crimes can be committed against British women and children, they’ll just now have no direct evidence that it’s happened.
Musk is fighting hard to keep CSAM and exploitative material on Twitter. That’s the story.
Musk is fighting hard to keep CSAM and exploitative material on Twitter. That’s the story.
Reposted by Luke Alexander
Welcome to new Bluesky users.
Here’s how we do things:
1. Always observe the Hambledon Protocol
2. No flisking
3. If someone tealights you, rink them without apology
4. I don’t mind them so much, but tissue-posts are generally frowned on
5. No questions
Good luck!
Here’s how we do things:
1. Always observe the Hambledon Protocol
2. No flisking
3. If someone tealights you, rink them without apology
4. I don’t mind them so much, but tissue-posts are generally frowned on
5. No questions
Good luck!
January 11, 2026 at 5:07 PM
Welcome to new Bluesky users.
Here’s how we do things:
1. Always observe the Hambledon Protocol
2. No flisking
3. If someone tealights you, rink them without apology
4. I don’t mind them so much, but tissue-posts are generally frowned on
5. No questions
Good luck!
Here’s how we do things:
1. Always observe the Hambledon Protocol
2. No flisking
3. If someone tealights you, rink them without apology
4. I don’t mind them so much, but tissue-posts are generally frowned on
5. No questions
Good luck!
Reposted by Luke Alexander
"2026" is a pretty futuristic-sounding year. 2027 is not. I can't explain this. The next big one is 2031. 2049 is gonna be huge.
January 2, 2026 at 5:45 PM
"2026" is a pretty futuristic-sounding year. 2027 is not. I can't explain this. The next big one is 2031. 2049 is gonna be huge.
Reposted by Luke Alexander
Lost amid the discussion of why the Government should get off X is its utter uselessness as an engagement tool and the fact departments are wasting vast sums making content for it. Take this:
January 2, 2026 at 11:15 PM
Lost amid the discussion of why the Government should get off X is its utter uselessness as an engagement tool and the fact departments are wasting vast sums making content for it. Take this:
Reposted by Luke Alexander
The Second-Order Streisand Effect is a social phenomenon where if a party makes an effort to censor information, discussion and news about the censorship paradoxically leads to an increased awareness of Barbara Streisand, a musician whom most "Zoomers" would probably have otherwise never heard of
December 29, 2025 at 7:27 PM
The Second-Order Streisand Effect is a social phenomenon where if a party makes an effort to censor information, discussion and news about the censorship paradoxically leads to an increased awareness of Barbara Streisand, a musician whom most "Zoomers" would probably have otherwise never heard of
Reposted by Luke Alexander
I find this incredibly jarring - personally, I watch very little on YouTube, and my children are banned from it. Unlike Netflix, Disney etc it's an uncurated swamp with a very real risk that you encounter the worst of the internet. How can that be the new Hollywood? www.ft.com/content/9e75...
The relentless rise of YouTube
As well as being the dominant platform in podcasting and having a growing presence in live sport, it is now the leader in TV and streaming in the US
www.ft.com
December 27, 2025 at 9:49 AM
I find this incredibly jarring - personally, I watch very little on YouTube, and my children are banned from it. Unlike Netflix, Disney etc it's an uncurated swamp with a very real risk that you encounter the worst of the internet. How can that be the new Hollywood? www.ft.com/content/9e75...
Reposted by Luke Alexander
The end of A Christmas Carol is clear that Scrooge became famous for his generosity and love of Christmas. And yet his name is still shorthand for miserliness. So really that whole story is proof that you can change all you want but people will still remember you at your worst
December 21, 2025 at 6:07 PM
The end of A Christmas Carol is clear that Scrooge became famous for his generosity and love of Christmas. And yet his name is still shorthand for miserliness. So really that whole story is proof that you can change all you want but people will still remember you at your worst
Reposted by Luke Alexander
I see a lot of complaints about untested AI slop in pull requests. Submitting those is a dereliction of duty as a software engineer: Your job is to deliver code you have proven to work simonwillison.net/2025/Dec/18/...
Your job is to deliver code you have proven to work
In all of the debates about the value of AI-assistance in software development there’s one depressing anecdote that I keep on seeing: the junior engineer, empowered by some class of …
simonwillison.net
December 18, 2025 at 2:57 PM
I see a lot of complaints about untested AI slop in pull requests. Submitting those is a dereliction of duty as a software engineer: Your job is to deliver code you have proven to work simonwillison.net/2025/Dec/18/...
Reposted by Luke Alexander
When you're reading stuff about banning social media for teens today, remember that if research has only looked at the harms and not the benefits, it's bad research
December 14, 2025 at 9:15 AM
When you're reading stuff about banning social media for teens today, remember that if research has only looked at the harms and not the benefits, it's bad research
Reposted by Luke Alexander
Seeing the papers write about social media is like Rennaisance-era pictures of an elephant drawn only from description.
December 5, 2025 at 8:29 AM
Seeing the papers write about social media is like Rennaisance-era pictures of an elephant drawn only from description.
Reposted by Luke Alexander
Reposted by Luke Alexander
It shouldn’t be forgotten that a big piece of Mamdani’s campaign was simply “cities are cool and lots of people enjoy living in them” which in and of itself dismantles alot of rightwing talking points
November 7, 2025 at 12:02 PM
It shouldn’t be forgotten that a big piece of Mamdani’s campaign was simply “cities are cool and lots of people enjoy living in them” which in and of itself dismantles alot of rightwing talking points
Reposted by Luke Alexander
In my opinion it’s time to retire the Nobel prizes for fields where most of the important discoveries have already been made, like physics, and add prizes for newer fields where substantial innovations occur every year, like speedrunning
October 11, 2025 at 1:21 PM
In my opinion it’s time to retire the Nobel prizes for fields where most of the important discoveries have already been made, like physics, and add prizes for newer fields where substantial innovations occur every year, like speedrunning
Reposted by Luke Alexander
Reposted by Luke Alexander
idle thought: i wonder if the rush of ads for AI that promises to write student essays (euch) is at least partly the result of exam culture? if you make the target "get an A" instead of "discover interesting ideas" then you can't entirely blame people for wanting to take the easy route
September 27, 2025 at 11:05 AM
idle thought: i wonder if the rush of ads for AI that promises to write student essays (euch) is at least partly the result of exam culture? if you make the target "get an A" instead of "discover interesting ideas" then you can't entirely blame people for wanting to take the easy route
Reposted by Luke Alexander
obviously the internet has become awful etc etc but I've just really enjoyed this gaming streamer I watch excusing himself briefly so he could stretch and walk for a bit, explaining that he needed to "unshrimp", something I'd never heard before but got immediately, isn't language great
September 19, 2025 at 10:17 PM
obviously the internet has become awful etc etc but I've just really enjoyed this gaming streamer I watch excusing himself briefly so he could stretch and walk for a bit, explaining that he needed to "unshrimp", something I'd never heard before but got immediately, isn't language great
Reposted by Luke Alexander
Reposted by Luke Alexander
And subscribe to the physical paper copy of @theonion.com
Fascism demands to be taken seriously. Don’t. 24/24
Fascism demands to be taken seriously. Don’t. 24/24
September 2, 2025 at 9:18 PM
And subscribe to the physical paper copy of @theonion.com
Fascism demands to be taken seriously. Don’t. 24/24
Fascism demands to be taken seriously. Don’t. 24/24
Reposted by Luke Alexander
As someone who has lived my whole adult life in cities deemed “dangerous”—NYC, NOLA, and SF—I think a lot about how dense cities require patience, calm, and tolerance in the midst of social difference, which are of course exactly the civic virtues that the right resents being told to cultivate.
August 12, 2025 at 7:06 PM
As someone who has lived my whole adult life in cities deemed “dangerous”—NYC, NOLA, and SF—I think a lot about how dense cities require patience, calm, and tolerance in the midst of social difference, which are of course exactly the civic virtues that the right resents being told to cultivate.
Reposted by Luke Alexander
Taylor Swift Eras Tour venues had historically unprecedented crowds gathering outside them for people even without tickets, so in-demand that even multi-day full-stadium tours to the limit of Taylor's physical capacity could not salve them. People simply gathered for community and singing along.
August 10, 2025 at 6:04 AM
Taylor Swift Eras Tour venues had historically unprecedented crowds gathering outside them for people even without tickets, so in-demand that even multi-day full-stadium tours to the limit of Taylor's physical capacity could not salve them. People simply gathered for community and singing along.
I don't think anything appearing through my letterbox has ever made me happier than my first print subscription edition of @theonion.com
July 31, 2025 at 10:59 PM
I don't think anything appearing through my letterbox has ever made me happier than my first print subscription edition of @theonion.com