diff --git a/bookwyrm/templates/book/publisher_info.html b/bookwyrm/templates/book/publisher_info.html
index a16332c5..b7975a62 100644
--- a/bookwyrm/templates/book/publisher_info.html
+++ b/bookwyrm/templates/book/publisher_info.html
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 {% spaceless %}
 
 {% load i18n %}
+{% load humanize %}
 
 <p>
     {% with format=book.physical_format pages=book.pages %}
@@ -39,7 +40,7 @@
 {% endif %}
 
 <p>
-    {% with date=book.published_date|date:'M jS Y' publisher=book.publishers|join:', ' %}
+    {% with date=book.published_date|naturalday publisher=book.publishers|join:', ' %}
         {% if date or book.first_published_date %}
             <meta
                 itemprop="datePublished"
diff --git a/bookwyrm/templates/notifications.html b/bookwyrm/templates/notifications.html
index 7c694d78..ba0a25cd 100644
--- a/bookwyrm/templates/notifications.html
+++ b/bookwyrm/templates/notifications.html
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@
                                 {% include 'snippets/status_preview.html' with status=related_status %}
                             </div>
                             <div class="column is-narrow {% if notification.notification_type == 'REPLY' or notification.notification_type == 'MENTION' %}has-text-black{% else %}has-text-grey-dark{% endif %}">
-                                {{ related_status.published_date | post_date }}
+                                {{ related_status.published_date|timesince }}
                                 {% include 'snippets/privacy-icons.html' with item=related_status %}
                             </div>
                         </div>
diff --git a/bookwyrm/templates/snippets/status/status_body.html b/bookwyrm/templates/snippets/status/status_body.html
index ffa71d5e..0eff4ea9 100644
--- a/bookwyrm/templates/snippets/status/status_body.html
+++ b/bookwyrm/templates/snippets/status/status_body.html
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@
 </div>
 
 <div class="card-footer-item">
-    <a href="{{ status.remote_id }}">{{ status.published_date | post_date }}</a>
+    <a href="{{ status.remote_id }}">{{ status.published_date|timesince }}</a>
 </div>
 {% if not moderation_mode %}
 <div class="card-footer-item">
diff --git a/bookwyrm/templatetags/bookwyrm_tags.py b/bookwyrm/templatetags/bookwyrm_tags.py
index 52054ada..5d981909 100644
--- a/bookwyrm/templatetags/bookwyrm_tags.py
+++ b/bookwyrm/templatetags/bookwyrm_tags.py
@@ -129,28 +129,6 @@ def get_uuid(identifier):
     return "%s%s" % (identifier, uuid4())
 
 
-@register.filter(name="post_date")
-def time_since(date):
-    """ concise time ago function """
-    if not isinstance(date, datetime):
-        return ""
-    now = timezone.now()
-
-    if date < (now - relativedelta(weeks=1)):
-        formatter = "%b %-d"
-        if date.year != now.year:
-            formatter += " %Y"
-        return date.strftime(formatter)
-    delta = relativedelta(now, date)
-    if delta.days:
-        return "%dd" % delta.days
-    if delta.hours:
-        return "%dh" % delta.hours
-    if delta.minutes:
-        return "%dm" % delta.minutes
-    return "%ds" % delta.seconds
-
-
 @register.filter(name="to_markdown")
 def get_markdown(content):
     """ convert markdown to html """
diff --git a/bookwyrm/tests/test_templatetags.py b/bookwyrm/tests/test_templatetags.py
index b4dc517f..2fadb978 100644
--- a/bookwyrm/tests/test_templatetags.py
+++ b/bookwyrm/tests/test_templatetags.py
@@ -181,36 +181,6 @@ class TemplateTags(TestCase):
         uuid = bookwyrm_tags.get_uuid("hi")
         self.assertTrue(re.match(r"hi[A-Za-z0-9\-]", uuid))
 
-    def test_time_since(self, _):
-        """ ultraconcise timestamps """
-        self.assertEqual(bookwyrm_tags.time_since("bleh"), "")
-
-        now = timezone.now()
-        self.assertEqual(bookwyrm_tags.time_since(now), "0s")
-
-        seconds_ago = now - relativedelta(seconds=4)
-        self.assertEqual(bookwyrm_tags.time_since(seconds_ago), "4s")
-
-        minutes_ago = now - relativedelta(minutes=8)
-        self.assertEqual(bookwyrm_tags.time_since(minutes_ago), "8m")
-
-        hours_ago = now - relativedelta(hours=9)
-        self.assertEqual(bookwyrm_tags.time_since(hours_ago), "9h")
-
-        days_ago = now - relativedelta(days=3)
-        self.assertEqual(bookwyrm_tags.time_since(days_ago), "3d")
-
-        # I am not going to figure out how to mock dates tonight.
-        months_ago = now - relativedelta(months=5)
-        self.assertTrue(
-            re.match(r"[A-Z][a-z]{2} \d?\d", bookwyrm_tags.time_since(months_ago))
-        )
-
-        years_ago = now - relativedelta(years=10)
-        self.assertTrue(
-            re.match(r"[A-Z][a-z]{2} \d?\d \d{4}", bookwyrm_tags.time_since(years_ago))
-        )
-
     def test_get_markdown(self, _):
         """ mardown format data """
         result = bookwyrm_tags.get_markdown("_hi_")