Ben Werdmuller
werd.io · Personal blog · on HN since 2013
Ben Werdmuller, a founder, CTO, and VC, writes about tech, startups, ethics, journalism, open source, and the open web.
What HN saysHN mostly links it as a source for his posts on unions and the open web, and as a personal site where he describes himself.
57HN people shared it
8linked it in comments
277stories submitted
1.7Kstory points
3 months agolast shared
2013people per year2026
Most-shared posts
- 1Lessons learned building an open source business6 people · 39 points · first shared 2015 · 2 comments on HN
- 2Why RSS Matters4 people · 20 points · first shared 2025 · 1 comments on HN
- 3Good Vibes, Bad Vendors3 people · 5 points · first shared 2026 · discussion on HN
- 4Build what makes you special. Buy the rest2 people · 13 points · first shared 2025 · 6 comments on HN
- 5Gendered pronouns in software: a quick primer2 people · 8 points · first shared 2013 · 12 comments on HN
- 6How machine learning can reinforce systemic racism2 people · 7 points · first shared 2018 · discussion on HN
- 7Threads is trading trust for growth2 people · 7 points · first shared 2024 · discussion on HN
- 8Private data isn't as private as you think2 people · 6 points · first shared 2025 · 1 comments on HN
- 9If I ran Bluesky Product2 people · 5 points · first shared 2025 · discussion on HN
- 10Dispatches from the Media Apocalypse2 people · 4 points · first shared 2024 · discussion on HN
- 11Stripping the Web of Its Humanity2 people · 4 points · first shared 2024 · discussion on HN
- 12Licensing site content using a text file2 people · 3 points · first shared 2023 · discussion on HN
- 13Persuading people to use ethical tech2 people · 3 points · first shared 2018 · discussion on HN
- 14Who Owns Your Data?2 people · 3 points · first shared 2026 · discussion on HN
- 15X and the Digital Services Act2 people · 1 points · first shared 2023 · discussion on HN
What HN people wrote when they linked it
hn1986 · 2023-12-18
Finally, X hasn’t allowed researchers access to the platform for auditing purposes, violating a principle of transparency which is enshrined by the Digital Services Act. Following changes to the platform, access to data for research purposes has been severely curtailed:
Social media researchers have canceled, suspended or changed more than 100 studies about X, formerly Twitter, as a result of actions taken by Elon Musk that limit access to the social media platform, nearly a dozen interviews and a survey of planned projects show. […] A majority of survey respondents fear being sued by X over their findings or use of data. The worry follows X's July lawsuit against the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) after it published critical reports about the platform's content moderation.
https://werd.io/2023/x-and-the-digital-services-act
benwerd · 2023-07-04
https://werd.io
I've been a founder (2x), CTO / tech lead, engineer, product lead, VC, film reviewer, and writer. My site is about all of those things. Mostly I write about tech, startups, ethics, and journalism, interspersed with links I find interesting.
I also post a live view of my RSS subscriptions over at https://sources.werd.io/ - I'm excited to add some more from this thread. Thanks for starting it!
mamurphy · 2019-10-11
Nice video. I've definitely heard this narrative before. There was a great blog post on HN a while back bemoaning feature lists but I couldn't find the one I am remembering on google. I found two other on-point articles of interest, though:
https://www.cmswire.com/information-management/everything-you-know-abo…
https://werd.io/2016/stop-writing-specs-start-finding-needs---what-ive…
pdenya · 2013-08-20
I like the idea of stating your communication preferences but it seems strange to put that right in your bio like he's done at http://werd.io as if where you keep your documents says a lot about you as a person.
Unrelated, this was difficult to read with that blog styling. "font-size: .9em" for body text seems like a bad idea. Raising the font-size and line-height makes this whole site look much cleaner.
Apocryphon · 2026-05-29
If it’s a matter of proof, these are all links already posted on this site:
https://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/union-effect-in-california-1/
https://www.epi.org/publication/unions-decline-inequality-rises/
https://werd.io/unions-work/
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2018-06-13/unions-did-great…
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/8/19/20727283/unions-good…
aabalkan · 2013-12-04
For those who don't know the background of the story:
[1] http://werd.io/2013/gendered-pronouns-in-software-a-quick-primer
[2] http://strongloop.com/strongblog/collaboration-not-derision-in-the-nod…
As said in [2]:
If Ben can’t learn, we’ll fire him. [Edit: See comment
below. This is not meant literally.]
that seems like the result.
1vuio0pswjnm7 · 2026-01-24
List of…
timmytokyo · 2024-01-03
If Substack really wants to be the Nazi bar [1], then that is their prerogative. But if some of their writers don't wish to be patrons of the Nazi bar, then it is their prerogative to urge Substack's leadership to change their minds.
[1] The bartender: "You didn’t see his vest but it was all nazi shit. Iron crosses and stuff. You get to recognize them... You have to nip it in the bud immediately. These guys come in and it’s always a nice, polite one. And you serve them because you don’t want to cause a scene. And then they become a regular and after awhile they bring a friend. And that dude is cool too. And then THEY bring friends and the friends bring friends and they stop being cool and then you realize, oh shit, this is a Nazi bar now. And it’s too late because they’re entrenched and if you try to kick them out, they cause a PROBLEM. So you have to shut them down." https://werd.io/2023/leaving-the-nazi-bar