All About Berlin

Plain English guides for Berliners. - Newsletter:

[All About Berlin @aboutberlin]

All About Berlin helps people move to Germany. Find all guides here: https://t.co/VfwWSb1eOO

[All About Berlin @aboutberlin]

Good morning, it's already June!

https://t.co/eRaoNlryq9

[All About Berlin @aboutberlin]

I am finishing up All About Berlin's June 2026 newsletter. It will be out on June 1. Subscribe here to get it in your inbox: https://t.co/jJPPMzV6az

Instead of AI slop, it features impressionist paintings of Berlin. This is "Der Wannsee" by Philipp Franck (1914).

[All About Berlin @aboutberlin]

Blog post version: https://t.co/oGrASIg5Lj

[All About Berlin @aboutberlin]

AI is killing All About Berlin. When you Google something, you used to get a link to my website, but now you get an AI-generated answer trained on my work. This has a devastating impact on traffic.

[All About Berlin @aboutberlin]

Last week, I wrote about how AI is killing the website I live from. I turned it into a blog post that's easier to read and share.

https://t.co/oGrASIg5Lj

[All About Berlin @aboutberlin]

@web_sem_dev @yashasvigirdhar Confidently wrong

[All About Berlin @aboutberlin]

@joyfulmarce I made some changes to mitigate the drop, but yes, roughly.

[All About Berlin @aboutberlin]

@indexsy An algo penalty?

[All About Berlin @aboutberlin]

@Lewis_R_W In this case, they expect the knowledgeable staffers to keep feeding the industry that is replacing them, for free.

I wouldn't mind a better technology rendering my work useless, but in this case, it's still necessary. It's just artificially devalued by a monopoly.

[All About Berlin @aboutberlin]

@LVRenoan It's mandatory in Berlin. It's a bit like the TV tax: it's deemed important, so everyone needs to chip in whether they need it or not. In practice, the outcome is the same: they lose the need to produce something their captive user base actually wants.

[All About Berlin @aboutberlin]

The Berlin chamber of commerce (IHK) has started a massive, cryptic advertising campaign: "WTF is IHK?"

I've been paying the mandatory membership fee for 8 years and I ask myself the same question.

[All About Berlin @aboutberlin]

@AndyCMDE These workflow improvements do not increase my income.

I will keep the website useful, neutral and free. I don't want to compromise on quality or abandon principles to keep the lights on. I will find other ways to pay rent. Something is in the works.

[All About Berlin @aboutberlin]

AI on All About Berlin? Yes, but not like that.

I am releasing a tool that updates the website when certain facts change. If the minimum wage goes up, it updates it everywhere on the website. (1/2)

[All About Berlin @aboutberlin]

@HSB_Forum Ich verdiene meinen Lebensunterhalt mit dieser Website, also ja. Sie wurde vom Finanzamt rückwirkend als Gewerbe eingestuft.

[All About Berlin @aboutberlin]

@dmfilipenko @HLSIII Because they're a few disparate clicks to random URLs.

[All About Berlin @aboutberlin]

@pranesh @librarythingtim Again with the technical-legalistic approach. It's cool that they are working on an opt-out mechanism two years after the plundering took place, but it's too late for any objection to be meaningful.

[All About Berlin @aboutberlin]

@pranesh @librarythingtim And I'm just a regular guy getting wrecked by a megacorp. I am not asking about my chances against Google in court, but more practical questions like "how will I buy groceries in a year?"

In other words, read the room?

[All About Berlin @aboutberlin]

@pranesh @librarythingtim These conversations are voluntary and their scope is clear. The journalists sell their research and writing. Isn't the difference obvious to you? Are you being deliberately obtuse or is Twitter always like that?

[All About Berlin @aboutberlin]

@pwnxt Some yes, many no. A lot of that information comes from a LOT of private conversations, interviews with experts and reader feedback.

A prime example: https://t.co/oc35afa5Cp - The immigration office themselves started using my data.

[All About Berlin @aboutberlin]

This thread has reached context collapse size, so I'll mute it and move on with my day. My email is on the website this post is about. Feel free to reach out.

https://t.co/84Dfgt0knc

[All About Berlin @aboutberlin]

@colindotfun @sometimesfrunny Colin, I have never charged a cent for my content. I have open-sourced the entire tech stack this year.

You have never visited my website, have you?

[All About Berlin @aboutberlin]

@aiob_me All About Berlin runs on its own domain, server and tech stack. I own the land, but name one road that isn't owned by big tech.

[All About Berlin @aboutberlin]

@waxoman That's a problem for the next CEO