diff --git a/src/lib.rs b/src/lib.rs
index 4cb07bdd4..62d071666 100644
--- a/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/lib.rs
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 #![recursion_limit = "512"]
 pub mod api_routes;
 pub mod code_migrations;
+pub mod root_span_builder;
 pub mod scheduled_tasks;
 
 use lemmy_utils::LemmyError;
@@ -13,7 +14,7 @@ pub fn init_tracing() -> Result<(), LemmyError> {
   LogTracer::init()?;
 
   let env_filter = EnvFilter::try_from_default_env().unwrap_or_else(|_| EnvFilter::new("info"));
-  let format_layer = tracing_subscriber::fmt::layer().pretty();
+  let format_layer = tracing_subscriber::fmt::layer();
 
   let subscriber = Registry::default()
     .with(env_filter)
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index 88eaba83d..8f130fde2 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ use lemmy_server::{
   api_routes,
   code_migrations::run_advanced_migrations,
   init_tracing,
+  root_span_builder::QuieterRootSpanBuilder,
   scheduled_tasks,
 };
 use lemmy_utils::{
@@ -124,7 +125,7 @@ async fn main() -> Result<(), LemmyError> {
     let rate_limiter = rate_limiter.clone();
     App::new()
       .wrap(actix_web::middleware::Logger::default())
-      .wrap(TracingLogger::default())
+      .wrap(TracingLogger::<QuieterRootSpanBuilder>::new())
       .app_data(Data::new(context))
       // The routes
       .configure(|cfg| api_routes::config(cfg, &rate_limiter))
diff --git a/src/root_span_builder.rs b/src/root_span_builder.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b2db016c2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/root_span_builder.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,71 @@
+use actix_web::{http::StatusCode, ResponseError};
+use tracing::Span;
+use tracing_actix_web::RootSpanBuilder;
+
+// Code in this module adapted from DefaultRootSpanBuilder
+// https://github.com/LukeMathWalker/tracing-actix-web/blob/main/src/root_span_builder.rs
+// and root_span!
+// https://github.com/LukeMathWalker/tracing-actix-web/blob/main/src/root_span_macro.rs
+
+pub struct QuieterRootSpanBuilder;
+
+impl RootSpanBuilder for QuieterRootSpanBuilder {
+  fn on_request_start(request: &actix_web::dev::ServiceRequest) -> Span {
+    let request_id = tracing_actix_web::root_span_macro::private::get_request_id(request);
+
+    tracing::info_span!(
+        "HTTP request",
+        http.method = %request.method(),
+        http.scheme = request.connection_info().scheme(),
+        http.host = %request.connection_info().host(),
+        http.target = %request.uri().path(),
+        http.status_code = tracing::field::Empty,
+        otel.kind = "server",
+        otel.status_code = tracing::field::Empty,
+        trace_id = tracing::field::Empty,
+        request_id = %request_id,
+        exception.message = tracing::field::Empty,
+        // Not proper OpenTelemetry, but their terminology is fairly exception-centric
+        exception.details = tracing::field::Empty,
+    )
+  }
+
+  fn on_request_end<B>(
+    span: tracing::Span,
+    outcome: &Result<actix_web::dev::ServiceResponse<B>, actix_web::Error>,
+  ) {
+    match &outcome {
+      Ok(response) => {
+        if let Some(error) = response.response().error() {
+          // use the status code already constructed for the outgoing HTTP response
+          handle_error(span, response.status(), error.as_response_error());
+        } else {
+          let code: i32 = response.response().status().as_u16().into();
+          span.record("http.status_code", &code);
+          span.record("otel.status_code", &"OK");
+        }
+      }
+      Err(error) => {
+        let response_error = error.as_response_error();
+        handle_error(span, response_error.status_code(), response_error);
+      }
+    };
+  }
+}
+
+fn handle_error(span: Span, status_code: StatusCode, response_error: &dyn ResponseError) {
+  // pre-formatting errors is a workaround for https://github.com/tokio-rs/tracing/issues/1565
+  let display = format!("{}", response_error);
+  let debug = format!("{:?}", response_error);
+  span.record("exception.message", &tracing::field::display(display));
+  span.record("exception.details", &tracing::field::display(debug));
+  let code: i32 = status_code.as_u16().into();
+
+  span.record("http.status_code", &code);
+
+  if status_code.is_client_error() {
+    span.record("otel.status_code", &"OK");
+  } else {
+    span.record("otel.status_code", &"ERROR");
+  }
+}