diff --git a/src/App/Arguments.php b/src/App/Arguments.php
index 8047186a0..e65309f6b 100644
--- a/src/App/Arguments.php
+++ b/src/App/Arguments.php
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ class Arguments
 
 	/**
 	 * Returns the value of a argv key
-	 * @todo there are a lot of $a->argv usages in combination with defaults() which can be replaced with this method
+	 * @todo there are a lot of $a->argv usages in combination with ?? which can be replaced with this method
 	 *
 	 * @param int   $position the position of the argument
 	 * @param mixed $default  the default value if not found
diff --git a/src/App/BaseURL.php b/src/App/BaseURL.php
index ad5fd0d4e..8d76a0d2d 100644
--- a/src/App/BaseURL.php
+++ b/src/App/BaseURL.php
@@ -338,12 +338,12 @@ class BaseURL
 		/* Relative script path to the web server root
 		 * Not all of those $_SERVER properties can be present, so we do by inverse priority order
 		 */
-		$relative_script_path = '';
-		$relative_script_path = defaults($this->server, 'REDIRECT_URL', $relative_script_path);
-		$relative_script_path = defaults($this->server, 'REDIRECT_URI', $relative_script_path);
-		$relative_script_path = defaults($this->server, 'REDIRECT_SCRIPT_URL', $relative_script_path);
-		$relative_script_path = defaults($this->server, 'SCRIPT_URL', $relative_script_path);
-		$relative_script_path = defaults($this->server, 'REQUEST_URI', $relative_script_path);
+		$relative_script_path =
+			($this->server['REDIRECT_URL']        ?? '') ?:
+			($this->server['REDIRECT_URI']        ?? '') ?:
+			($this->server['REDIRECT_SCRIPT_URL'] ?? '') ?:
+			($this->server['SCRIPT_URL']          ?? '') ?:
+			 $this->server['REQUEST_URI']         ?? '';
 
 		/* $relative_script_path gives /relative/path/to/friendica/module/parameter
 		 * QUERY_STRING gives pagename=module/parameter
diff --git a/src/BaseObject.php b/src/BaseObject.php
index fcec89bb4..996824f4a 100644
--- a/src/BaseObject.php
+++ b/src/BaseObject.php
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ class BaseObject
 			throw new InternalServerErrorException('DICE isn\'t initialized.');
 		}
 
-		if (class_exists($name) || interface_exists($name   )) {
+		if (class_exists($name) || interface_exists($name)) {
 			return self::$dice->create($name);
 		} else {
 			throw new InternalServerErrorException('Class \'' . $name . '\' isn\'t valid.');
diff --git a/src/Content/Pager.php b/src/Content/Pager.php
index c9acb63f2..c12608d45 100644
--- a/src/Content/Pager.php
+++ b/src/Content/Pager.php
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ class Pager
 	{
 		$this->setQueryString($queryString);
 		$this->setItemsPerPage($itemsPerPage);
-		$this->setPage(defaults($_GET, 'page', 1));
+		$this->setPage(($_GET['page'] ?? 0) ?: 1);
 	}
 
 	/**
diff --git a/src/Content/Text/BBCode.php b/src/Content/Text/BBCode.php
index 760247f2c..75f5d506e 100644
--- a/src/Content/Text/BBCode.php
+++ b/src/Content/Text/BBCode.php
@@ -244,7 +244,7 @@ class BBCode extends BaseObject
 		*/
 
 		$has_title = !empty($item['title']);
-		$plink = defaults($item, 'plink', '');
+		$plink = $item['plink'] ?? '';
 		$post = self::getAttachmentData($body);
 
 		// Get all linked images with alternative image description
@@ -610,7 +610,7 @@ class BBCode extends BaseObject
 					throw new Exception('OEmbed is disabled for this attachment.');
 				}
 			} catch (Exception $e) {
-				$data['title'] = defaults($data, 'title', $data['url']);
+				$data['title'] = ($data['title'] ?? '') ?: $data['url'];
 
 				if ($simplehtml != 4) {
 					$return = sprintf('<div class="type-%s">', $data['type']);
@@ -645,7 +645,7 @@ class BBCode extends BaseObject
 			}
 		}
 
-		return trim(defaults($data, 'text', '') . ' ' . $return . ' ' . defaults($data, 'after', ''));
+		return trim(($data['text'] ?? '') . ' ' . $return . ' ' . ($data['after'] ?? ''));
 	}
 
 	public static function removeShareInformation($Text, $plaintext = false, $nolink = false)
@@ -655,10 +655,10 @@ class BBCode extends BaseObject
 		if (!$data) {
 			return $Text;
 		} elseif ($nolink) {
-			return $data['text'] . defaults($data, 'after', '');
+			return $data['text'] . ($data['after'] ?? '');
 		}
 
-		$title = htmlentities(defaults($data, 'title', ''), ENT_QUOTES, 'UTF-8', false);
+		$title = htmlentities($data['title'] ?? '', ENT_QUOTES, 'UTF-8', false);
 		$text = htmlentities($data['text'], ENT_QUOTES, 'UTF-8', false);
 		if ($plaintext || (($title != '') && strstr($text, $title))) {
 			$data['title'] = $data['url'];
@@ -941,7 +941,7 @@ class BBCode extends BaseObject
 				$attributes = [];
 				foreach(['author', 'profile', 'avatar', 'link', 'posted'] as $field) {
 					preg_match("/$field=(['\"])(.+?)\\1/ism", $attribute_string, $matches);
-					$attributes[$field] = html_entity_decode(defaults($matches, 2, ''), ENT_QUOTES, 'UTF-8');
+					$attributes[$field] = html_entity_decode($matches[2] ?? '', ENT_QUOTES, 'UTF-8');
 				}
 
 				// We only call this so that a previously unknown contact can be added.
@@ -960,11 +960,11 @@ class BBCode extends BaseObject
 				Contact::getIdForURL($attributes['profile'], 0, true, $default);
 
 				$author_contact = Contact::getDetailsByURL($attributes['profile']);
-				$author_contact['addr'] = defaults($author_contact, 'addr' , Protocol::getAddrFromProfileUrl($attributes['profile']));
+				$author_contact['addr'] = ($author_contact['addr']  ?? '') ?: Protocol::getAddrFromProfileUrl($attributes['profile']);
 
-				$attributes['author']   = defaults($author_contact, 'name' , $attributes['author']);
-				$attributes['avatar']   = defaults($author_contact, 'micro', $attributes['avatar']);
-				$attributes['profile']  = defaults($author_contact, 'url'  , $attributes['profile']);
+				$attributes['author']   = ($author_contact['name']  ?? '') ?: $attributes['author'];
+				$attributes['avatar']   = ($author_contact['micro'] ?? '') ?: $attributes['avatar'];
+				$attributes['profile']  = ($author_contact['url']   ?? '') ?: $attributes['profile'];
 
 				if ($attributes['avatar']) {
 					$attributes['avatar'] = ProxyUtils::proxifyUrl($attributes['avatar'], false, ProxyUtils::SIZE_THUMB);
@@ -1241,7 +1241,7 @@ class BBCode extends BaseObject
 		$try_oembed_callback = function ($match)
 		{
 			$url = $match[1];
-			$title = defaults($match, 2, null);
+			$title = $match[2] ?? null;
 
 			try {
 				$return = OEmbed::getHTML($url, $title);
diff --git a/src/Content/Text/HTML.php b/src/Content/Text/HTML.php
index 549025dec..390a97f0f 100644
--- a/src/Content/Text/HTML.php
+++ b/src/Content/Text/HTML.php
@@ -872,8 +872,8 @@ class HTML
 			$url = '';
 		}
 
-		return Renderer::replaceMacros(Renderer::getMarkupTemplate(($textmode)?'micropro_txt.tpl':'micropro_img.tpl'), [
-			'$click' => defaults($contact, 'click', ''),
+		return Renderer::replaceMacros(Renderer::getMarkupTemplate($textmode ? 'micropro_txt.tpl' : 'micropro_img.tpl'), [
+			'$click' => $contact['click'] ?? '',
 			'$class' => $class,
 			'$url' => $url,
 			'$photo' => ProxyUtils::proxifyUrl($contact['thumb'], false, ProxyUtils::SIZE_THUMB),
diff --git a/src/Content/Widget/CalendarExport.php b/src/Content/Widget/CalendarExport.php
index 829d267d8..c78ca21eb 100644
--- a/src/Content/Widget/CalendarExport.php
+++ b/src/Content/Widget/CalendarExport.php
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ class CalendarExport
 
 		// $a->data is only available if the profile page is visited. If the visited page is not part
 		// of the profile page it should be the personal /events page. So we can use $a->user.
-		$user = defaults($a->data['user'], 'nickname', $a->user['nickname']);
+		$user = ($a->data['user']['nickname'] ?? '') ?: $a->user['nickname'];
 
 		$tpl = Renderer::getMarkupTemplate("widget/events.tpl");
 		$return = Renderer::replaceMacros($tpl, [
diff --git a/src/Content/Widget/ContactBlock.php b/src/Content/Widget/ContactBlock.php
index ef152f900..ec78dae92 100644
--- a/src/Content/Widget/ContactBlock.php
+++ b/src/Content/Widget/ContactBlock.php
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ class ContactBlock
 
 		if ($total) {
 			// Only show followed for personal accounts, followers for pages
-			if (defaults($profile, 'account-type', User::ACCOUNT_TYPE_PERSON) == User::ACCOUNT_TYPE_PERSON) {
+			if ((($profile['account-type'] ?? '') ?: User::ACCOUNT_TYPE_PERSON) == User::ACCOUNT_TYPE_PERSON) {
 				$rel = [Contact::SHARING, Contact::FRIEND];
 			} else {
 				$rel = [Contact::FOLLOWER, Contact::FRIEND];
diff --git a/src/Core/ACL.php b/src/Core/ACL.php
index fd9bfc6e2..df2f86e2b 100644
--- a/src/Core/ACL.php
+++ b/src/Core/ACL.php
@@ -41,12 +41,12 @@ class ACL extends BaseObject
 
 		$networks = null;
 
-		$size = defaults($options, 'size', 4);
+		$size = ($options['size'] ?? 0) ?: 4;
 		$mutual = !empty($options['mutual_friends']);
 		$single = !empty($options['single']) && empty($options['multiple']);
-		$exclude = defaults($options, 'exclude', false);
+		$exclude = $options['exclude'] ?? false;
 
-		switch (defaults($options, 'networks', Protocol::PHANTOM)) {
+		switch (($options['networks'] ?? '') ?: Protocol::PHANTOM) {
 			case 'DFRN_ONLY':
 				$networks = [Protocol::DFRN];
 				break;
@@ -226,13 +226,13 @@ class ACL extends BaseObject
 
 		$acl_regex = '/<([0-9]+)>/i';
 
-		preg_match_all($acl_regex, defaults($user, 'allow_cid', ''), $matches);
+		preg_match_all($acl_regex, $user['allow_cid'] ?? '', $matches);
 		$allow_cid = $matches[1];
-		preg_match_all($acl_regex, defaults($user, 'allow_gid', ''), $matches);
+		preg_match_all($acl_regex, $user['allow_gid'] ?? '', $matches);
 		$allow_gid = $matches[1];
-		preg_match_all($acl_regex, defaults($user, 'deny_cid', ''), $matches);
+		preg_match_all($acl_regex, $user['deny_cid'] ?? '', $matches);
 		$deny_cid = $matches[1];
-		preg_match_all($acl_regex, defaults($user, 'deny_gid', ''), $matches);
+		preg_match_all($acl_regex, $user['deny_gid'] ?? '', $matches);
 		$deny_gid = $matches[1];
 
 		// Reformats the ACL data so that it is accepted by the JS frontend
@@ -301,10 +301,10 @@ class ACL extends BaseObject
 			'$showall' => L10n::t('Visible to everybody'),
 			'$show' => L10n::t('show'),
 			'$hide' => L10n::t('don\'t show'),
-			'$allowcid' => json_encode(defaults($default_permissions, 'allow_cid', [])), // we need arrays for Javascript since we call .remove() and .push() on this values
-			'$allowgid' => json_encode(defaults($default_permissions, 'allow_gid', [])),
-			'$denycid' => json_encode(defaults($default_permissions, 'deny_cid', [])),
-			'$denygid' => json_encode(defaults($default_permissions, 'deny_gid', [])),
+			'$allowcid' => json_encode(($default_permissions['allow_cid'] ?? '') ?: []), // We need arrays for
+			'$allowgid' => json_encode(($default_permissions['allow_gid'] ?? '') ?: []), // Javascript since we
+			'$denycid'  => json_encode(($default_permissions['deny_cid']  ?? '') ?: []), // call .remove() and
+			'$denygid'  => json_encode(($default_permissions['deny_gid']  ?? '') ?: []), // .push() on these values
 			'$networks' => $show_jotnets,
 			'$emailcc' => L10n::t('CC: email addresses'),
 			'$emtitle' => L10n::t('Example: bob@example.com, mary@example.com'),
diff --git a/src/Core/Authentication.php b/src/Core/Authentication.php
index d67a67bba..6d017664a 100644
--- a/src/Core/Authentication.php
+++ b/src/Core/Authentication.php
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ class Authentication extends BaseObject
 			$value = json_encode([
 				"uid" => $user["uid"],
 				"hash" => self::getCookieHashForUser($user),
-				"ip" => defaults($_SERVER, 'REMOTE_ADDR', '0.0.0.0')
+				"ip" => ($_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'] ?? '') ?: '0.0.0.0'
 			]);
 		} else {
 			$value = "";
diff --git a/src/Core/Config/Configuration.php b/src/Core/Config/Configuration.php
index f904f369b..c54fbb27e 100644
--- a/src/Core/Config/Configuration.php
+++ b/src/Core/Config/Configuration.php
@@ -7,8 +7,8 @@ use Friendica\Model;
 /**
  * This class is responsible for all system-wide configuration values in Friendica
  * There are two types of storage
- * - The Config-Files    (loaded into the FileCache @see Cache\ConfigCache )
- * - The Config-DB-Table (per Config-DB-model @see Model\Config\Config )
+ * - The Config-Files    (loaded into the FileCache @see Cache\ConfigCache)
+ * - The Config-DB-Table (per Config-DB-model @see Model\Config\Config)
  */
 abstract class Configuration
 {
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ abstract class Configuration
 	 *
 	 * Get a particular config value from the given category ($cat)
 	 * and the $key from a cached storage either from the $this->configAdapter
-	 * (@see IConfigAdapter ) or from the $this->configCache (@see ConfigCache ).
+	 * (@see IConfigAdapter) or from the $this->configCache (@see ConfigCache).
 	 *
 	 * @param string  $cat        The category of the configuration value
 	 * @param string  $key           The configuration key to query
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ abstract class Configuration
 	 * @brief Deletes the given key from the system configuration.
 	 *
 	 * Removes the configured value from the stored cache in $this->configCache
-	 * (@see ConfigCache ) and removes it from the database (@see IConfigAdapter ).
+	 * (@see ConfigCache) and removes it from the database (@see IConfigAdapter).
 	 *
 	 * @param string $cat The category of the configuration value
 	 * @param string $key    The configuration key to delete
diff --git a/src/Core/Config/PConfiguration.php b/src/Core/Config/PConfiguration.php
index badec9dfc..c54fc3122 100644
--- a/src/Core/Config/PConfiguration.php
+++ b/src/Core/Config/PConfiguration.php
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ use Friendica\Model;
  * This class is responsible for the user-specific configuration values in Friendica
  * The values are set through the Config-DB-Table (per Config-DB-model @see Model\Config\PConfig)
  *
- * The configuration cache (@see Cache\PConfigCache ) is used for temporary caching of database calls. This will
+ * The configuration cache (@see Cache\PConfigCache) is used for temporary caching of database calls. This will
  * increase the performance.
  */
 abstract class PConfiguration
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ abstract class PConfiguration
 	 * @param string $cat The category of the configuration value
 	 *
 	 * @return void
-	 * @see PConfigCache )
+	 * @see PConfigCache
 	 *
 	 */
 	abstract public function load(int $uid, string $cat = 'config');
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ abstract class PConfiguration
 	 *
 	 * Get a particular user's config value from the given category ($cat)
 	 * and the $key with the $uid from a cached storage either from the $this->configAdapter
-	 * (@see IConfigAdapter ) or from the $this->configCache (@see PConfigCache ).
+	 * (@see IConfigAdapter) or from the $this->configCache (@see PConfigCache).
 	 *
 	 * @param int     $uid           The user_id
 	 * @param string  $cat           The category of the configuration value
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ abstract class PConfiguration
 	 * Deletes the given key from the users's configuration.
 	 *
 	 * Removes the configured value from the stored cache in $this->configCache
-	 * (@see ConfigCache ) and removes it from the database (@see IConfigAdapter )
+	 * (@see ConfigCache) and removes it from the database (@see IConfigAdapter)
 	 *  with the given $uid.
 	 *
 	 * @param int $uid The user_id
diff --git a/src/Core/NotificationsManager.php b/src/Core/NotificationsManager.php
index a6a5c24e0..3c8367c91 100644
--- a/src/Core/NotificationsManager.php
+++ b/src/Core/NotificationsManager.php
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ class NotificationsManager extends BaseObject
 	 */
 	public function getTabs()
 	{
-		$selected = defaults(self::getApp()->argv, 1, '');
+		$selected = self::getApp()->argv[1] ?? '';
 
 		$tabs = [
 			[
diff --git a/src/Core/Renderer.php b/src/Core/Renderer.php
index fd5e73302..d9d913050 100644
--- a/src/Core/Renderer.php
+++ b/src/Core/Renderer.php
@@ -136,7 +136,7 @@ class Renderer extends BaseObject
 	 */
 	public static function getTemplateEngine()
 	{
-		$template_engine = defaults(self::$theme, 'template_engine', 'smarty3');
+		$template_engine = (self::$theme['template_engine'] ?? '') ?: 'smarty3';
 
 		if (isset(self::$template_engines[$template_engine])) {
 			if (isset(self::$template_engine_instance[$template_engine])) {
diff --git a/src/Core/Search.php b/src/Core/Search.php
index 5792fb1c9..9700c6472 100644
--- a/src/Core/Search.php
+++ b/src/Core/Search.php
@@ -56,21 +56,20 @@ class Search extends BaseObject
 			}
 
 			// Ensure that we do have a contact entry
-			Contact::getIdForURL(defaults($user_data, 'url', ''));
+			Contact::getIdForURL($user_data['url'] ?? '');
 
-			$contactDetails = Contact::getDetailsByURL(defaults($user_data, 'url', ''), local_user());
-			$itemUrl        = defaults($contactDetails, 'addr', defaults($user_data, 'url', ''));
+			$contactDetails = Contact::getDetailsByURL($user_data['url'] ?? '', local_user());
 
 			$result = new ContactResult(
-				defaults($user_data, 'name', ''),
-				defaults($user_data, 'addr', ''),
-				$itemUrl,
-				defaults($user_data, 'url', ''),
-				defaults($user_data, 'photo', ''),
-				defaults($user_data, 'network', ''),
-				defaults($contactDetails, 'id', 0),
+				$user_data['name'] ?? '',
+				$user_data['addr'] ?? '',
+				($contactDetails['addr'] ?? '') ?: ($user_data['url'] ?? ''),
+				$user_data['url'] ?? '',
+				$user_data['photo'] ?? '',
+				$user_data['network'] ?? '',
+				$contactDetails['id'] ?? 0,
 				0,
-				defaults($user_data, 'tags', '')
+				$user_data['tags'] ?? ''
 			);
 
 			return new ResultList(1, 1, 1, [$result]);
@@ -117,27 +116,28 @@ class Search extends BaseObject
 		$results = json_decode($resultJson, true);
 
 		$resultList = new ResultList(
-			defaults($results, 'page', 1),
-			defaults($results, 'count', 0),
-			defaults($results, 'itemsperpage', 30)
+			($results['page']         ?? 0) ?: 1,
+			 $results['count']        ?? 0,
+			($results['itemsperpage'] ?? 0) ?: 30
 		);
 
-		$profiles = defaults($results, 'profiles', []);
+		$profiles = $results['profiles'] ?? [];
 
 		foreach ($profiles as $profile) {
-			$contactDetails = Contact::getDetailsByURL(defaults($profile, 'profile_url', ''), local_user());
-			$itemUrl        = defaults($contactDetails, 'addr', defaults($profile, 'profile_url', ''));
+			$profile_url = $profile['profile_url'] ?? '';
+			$contactDetails = Contact::getDetailsByURL($profile_url, local_user());
 
 			$result = new ContactResult(
-				defaults($profile, 'name', ''),
-				defaults($profile, 'addr', ''),
-				$itemUrl,
-				defaults($profile, 'profile_url', ''),
-				defaults($profile, 'photo', ''),
+				$profile['name'] ?? '',
+				$profile['addr'] ?? '',
+				($contactDetails['addr'] ?? '') ?: $profile_url,
+				$profile_url,
+				$profile['photo'] ?? '',
 				Protocol::DFRN,
-				defaults($contactDetails, 'cid', 0),
+				$contactDetails['cid'] ?? 0,
 				0,
-				defaults($profile, 'tags', ''));
+				$profile['tags'] ?? ''
+			);
 
 			$resultList->addResult($result);
 		}
diff --git a/src/Core/Session.php b/src/Core/Session.php
index 3a0da3ab0..aaead868a 100644
--- a/src/Core/Session.php
+++ b/src/Core/Session.php
@@ -128,7 +128,7 @@ class Session
 			'page_flags'    => $user_record['page-flags'],
 			'my_url'        => $a->getBaseURL() . '/profile/' . $user_record['nickname'],
 			'my_address'    => $user_record['nickname'] . '@' . substr($a->getBaseURL(), strpos($a->getBaseURL(), '://') + 3),
-			'addr'          => defaults($_SERVER, 'REMOTE_ADDR', '0.0.0.0')
+			'addr'          => ($_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'] ?? '') ?: '0.0.0.0'
 		]);
 
 		self::setVisitorsContacts();
diff --git a/src/Core/StorageManager.php b/src/Core/StorageManager.php
index 8cd7d4395..832d9819c 100644
--- a/src/Core/StorageManager.php
+++ b/src/Core/StorageManager.php
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ class StorageManager
 	public static function getByName($name)
 	{
 		self::setup();
-		return defaults(self::$backends, $name, '');
+		return self::$backends[$name] ?? '';
 	}
 
 	/**
diff --git a/src/Database/DBStructure.php b/src/Database/DBStructure.php
index 72b903e07..218cab950 100644
--- a/src/Database/DBStructure.php
+++ b/src/Database/DBStructure.php
@@ -421,7 +421,7 @@ class DBStructure
 				}
 
 				if (isset($database[$name]["table_status"]["Comment"])) {
-					$structurecomment = defaults($structure, "comment", "");
+					$structurecomment = $structure["comment"] ?? '';
 					if ($database[$name]["table_status"]["Comment"] != $structurecomment) {
 						$sql2 = "COMMENT = '" . DBA::escape($structurecomment) . "'";
 
@@ -465,7 +465,7 @@ class DBStructure
 				// Compare the field structure field by field
 				foreach ($structure["fields"] AS $fieldname => $parameters) {
 					// Compare the field definition
-					$field_definition = defaults($database[$name]["fields"], $fieldname, ['Collation' => '']);
+					$field_definition = ($database[$name]["fields"][$fieldname] ?? '') ?: ['Collation' => ''];
 
 					// Define the default collation if not given
 					if (!isset($parameters['Collation']) && !empty($field_definition['Collation'])) {
@@ -717,8 +717,8 @@ class DBStructure
 	 * @todo You cannot rename a primary key if "auto increment" is set
 	 *
 	 * @param string $table            Table name
-	 * @param array  $columns          Columns Syntax for Rename: [ $old1 => [ $new1, $type1 ], $old2 => [ $new2, $type2 ], ... ] )
-	 *                                 Syntax for Primary Key: [ $col1, $col2, ...] )
+	 * @param array  $columns          Columns Syntax for Rename: [ $old1 => [ $new1, $type1 ], $old2 => [ $new2, $type2 ], ... ]
+	 *                                 Syntax for Primary Key: [ $col1, $col2, ...]
 	 * @param int    $type             The type of renaming (Default is Column)
 	 *
 	 * @return boolean Was the renaming successful?
diff --git a/src/Model/Contact.php b/src/Model/Contact.php
index 5ae995522..3033bb90b 100644
--- a/src/Model/Contact.php
+++ b/src/Model/Contact.php
@@ -1078,14 +1078,14 @@ class Contact extends BaseObject
 			$profile["micro"] = $profile["thumb"];
 		}
 
-		if ((empty($profile["addr"]) || empty($profile["name"])) && (defaults($profile, "gid", 0) != 0)
+		if ((empty($profile["addr"]) || empty($profile["name"])) && !empty($profile["gid"])
 			&& in_array($profile["network"], Protocol::FEDERATED)
 		) {
 			Worker::add(PRIORITY_LOW, "UpdateGContact", $url);
 		}
 
 		// Show contact details of Diaspora contacts only if connected
-		if ((defaults($profile, "cid", 0) == 0) && (defaults($profile, "network", "") == Protocol::DIASPORA)) {
+		if (empty($profile["cid"]) && ($profile["network"] ?? "") == Protocol::DIASPORA) {
 			$profile["location"] = "";
 			$profile["about"] = "";
 			$profile["gender"] = "";
@@ -1504,25 +1504,25 @@ class Contact extends BaseObject
 				'created'   => DateTimeFormat::utcNow(),
 				'url'       => $data['url'],
 				'nurl'      => Strings::normaliseLink($data['url']),
-				'addr'      => defaults($data, 'addr', ''),
-				'alias'     => defaults($data, 'alias', ''),
-				'notify'    => defaults($data, 'notify', ''),
-				'poll'      => defaults($data, 'poll', ''),
-				'name'      => defaults($data, 'name', ''),
-				'nick'      => defaults($data, 'nick', ''),
-				'photo'     => defaults($data, 'photo', ''),
-				'keywords'  => defaults($data, 'keywords', ''),
-				'location'  => defaults($data, 'location', ''),
-				'about'     => defaults($data, 'about', ''),
+				'addr'      => $data['addr'] ?? '',
+				'alias'     => $data['alias'] ?? '',
+				'notify'    => $data['notify'] ?? '',
+				'poll'      => $data['poll'] ?? '',
+				'name'      => $data['name'] ?? '',
+				'nick'      => $data['nick'] ?? '',
+				'photo'     => $data['photo'] ?? '',
+				'keywords'  => $data['keywords'] ?? '',
+				'location'  => $data['location'] ?? '',
+				'about'     => $data['about'] ?? '',
 				'network'   => $data['network'],
-				'pubkey'    => defaults($data, 'pubkey', ''),
+				'pubkey'    => $data['pubkey'] ?? '',
 				'rel'       => self::SHARING,
-				'priority'  => defaults($data, 'priority', 0),
-				'batch'     => defaults($data, 'batch', ''),
-				'request'   => defaults($data, 'request', ''),
-				'confirm'   => defaults($data, 'confirm', ''),
-				'poco'      => defaults($data, 'poco', ''),
-				'baseurl'   => defaults($data, 'baseurl', ''),
+				'priority'  => $data['priority'] ?? 0,
+				'batch'     => $data['batch'] ?? '',
+				'request'   => $data['request'] ?? '',
+				'confirm'   => $data['confirm'] ?? '',
+				'poco'      => $data['poco'] ?? '',
+				'baseurl'   => $data['baseurl'] ?? '',
 				'name-date' => DateTimeFormat::utcNow(),
 				'uri-date'  => DateTimeFormat::utcNow(),
 				'avatar-date' => DateTimeFormat::utcNow(),
@@ -1589,7 +1589,7 @@ class Contact extends BaseObject
 			$fields = ['addr', 'alias', 'name', 'nick', 'keywords', 'location', 'about', 'baseurl'];
 
 			foreach ($fields as $field) {
-				$updated[$field] = defaults($data, $field, $contact[$field]);
+				$updated[$field] = ($data[$field] ?? '') ?: $contact[$field];
 			}
 
 			if (($updated['addr'] != $contact['addr']) || (!empty($data['alias']) && ($data['alias'] != $contact['alias']))) {
@@ -2469,9 +2469,9 @@ class Contact extends BaseObject
 			return false;
 		}
 
-		$url = defaults($datarray, 'author-link', $pub_contact['url']);
+		$url = ($datarray['author-link'] ?? '') ?: $pub_contact['url'];
 		$name = $pub_contact['name'];
-		$photo = defaults($pub_contact, 'avatar', $pub_contact["photo"]);
+		$photo = ($pub_contact['avatar'] ?? '') ?: $pub_contact["photo"];
 		$nick = $pub_contact['nick'];
 		$network = $pub_contact['network'];
 
diff --git a/src/Model/Conversation.php b/src/Model/Conversation.php
index 06d3ba536..2ef58636a 100644
--- a/src/Model/Conversation.php
+++ b/src/Model/Conversation.php
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ class Conversation
 	 */
 	public static function insert(array $arr)
 	{
-		if (in_array(defaults($arr, 'network', Protocol::PHANTOM),
+		if (in_array(($arr['network'] ?? '') ?: Protocol::PHANTOM,
 			[Protocol::ACTIVITYPUB, Protocol::DFRN, Protocol::DIASPORA, Protocol::OSTATUS, Protocol::TWITTER]) && !empty($arr['uri'])) {
 			$conversation = ['item-uri' => $arr['uri'], 'received' => DateTimeFormat::utcNow()];
 
@@ -76,8 +76,13 @@ class Conversation
 					unset($old_conv['source']);
 				}
 				// Update structure data all the time but the source only when its from a better protocol.
-				if (empty($conversation['source']) || (!empty($old_conv['source']) &&
-					($old_conv['protocol'] < defaults($conversation, 'protocol', self::PARCEL_UNKNOWN)))) {
+				if (
+					empty($conversation['source'])
+					|| (
+						!empty($old_conv['source'])
+						&& ($old_conv['protocol'] < (($conversation['protocol'] ?? '') ?: self::PARCEL_UNKNOWN))
+					)
+				) {
 					unset($conversation['protocol']);
 					unset($conversation['source']);
 				}
diff --git a/src/Model/Event.php b/src/Model/Event.php
index 42742f18e..915218084 100644
--- a/src/Model/Event.php
+++ b/src/Model/Event.php
@@ -242,30 +242,30 @@ class Event extends BaseObject
 	public static function store($arr)
 	{
 		$event = [];
-		$event['id']        = intval(defaults($arr, 'id'       , 0));
-		$event['uid']       = intval(defaults($arr, 'uid'      , 0));
-		$event['cid']       = intval(defaults($arr, 'cid'      , 0));
-		$event['guid']      =        defaults($arr, 'guid'     , System::createUUID());
-		$event['uri']       =        defaults($arr, 'uri'      , Item::newURI($event['uid'], $event['guid']));
-		$event['type']      =        defaults($arr, 'type'     , 'event');
-		$event['summary']   =        defaults($arr, 'summary'  , '');
-		$event['desc']      =        defaults($arr, 'desc'     , '');
-		$event['location']  =        defaults($arr, 'location' , '');
-		$event['allow_cid'] =        defaults($arr, 'allow_cid', '');
-		$event['allow_gid'] =        defaults($arr, 'allow_gid', '');
-		$event['deny_cid']  =        defaults($arr, 'deny_cid' , '');
-		$event['deny_gid']  =        defaults($arr, 'deny_gid' , '');
-		$event['adjust']    = intval(defaults($arr, 'adjust'   , 0));
-		$event['nofinish']  = intval(defaults($arr, 'nofinish' , !empty($event['start']) && empty($event['finish'])));
+		$event['id']        = intval($arr['id']        ?? 0);
+		$event['uid']       = intval($arr['uid']       ?? 0);
+		$event['cid']       = intval($arr['cid']       ?? 0);
+		$event['guid']      =       ($arr['guid']      ?? '') ?: System::createUUID();
+		$event['uri']       =       ($arr['uri']       ?? '') ?: Item::newURI($event['uid'], $event['guid']);
+		$event['type']      =       ($arr['type']      ?? '') ?: 'event';
+		$event['summary']   =        $arr['summary']   ?? '';
+		$event['desc']      =        $arr['desc']      ?? '';
+		$event['location']  =        $arr['location']  ?? '';
+		$event['allow_cid'] =        $arr['allow_cid'] ?? '';
+		$event['allow_gid'] =        $arr['allow_gid'] ?? '';
+		$event['deny_cid']  =        $arr['deny_cid']  ?? '';
+		$event['deny_gid']  =        $arr['deny_gid']  ?? '';
+		$event['adjust']    = intval($arr['adjust']    ?? 0);
+		$event['nofinish']  = intval(!empty($arr['nofinish'] || !empty($event['start']) && empty($event['finish'])));
 
-		$event['created']   = DateTimeFormat::utc(defaults($arr, 'created'  , 'now'));
-		$event['edited']    = DateTimeFormat::utc(defaults($arr, 'edited'   , 'now'));
-		$event['start']     = DateTimeFormat::utc(defaults($arr, 'start'    , DBA::NULL_DATETIME));
-		$event['finish']    = DateTimeFormat::utc(defaults($arr, 'finish'   , DBA::NULL_DATETIME));
+		$event['created']   = DateTimeFormat::utc(($arr['created'] ?? '') ?: 'now');
+		$event['edited']    = DateTimeFormat::utc(($arr['edited']  ?? '') ?: 'now');
+		$event['start']     = DateTimeFormat::utc(($arr['start']   ?? '') ?: DBA::NULL_DATETIME);
+		$event['finish']    = DateTimeFormat::utc(($arr['finish']  ?? '') ?: DBA::NULL_DATETIME);
 		if ($event['finish'] < DBA::NULL_DATETIME) {
 			$event['finish'] = DBA::NULL_DATETIME;
 		}
-		$private = intval(defaults($arr, 'private', 0));
+		$private = intval($arr['private'] ?? 0);
 
 		$conditions = ['uid' => $event['uid']];
 		if ($event['cid']) {
@@ -333,7 +333,7 @@ class Event extends BaseObject
 				$item_arr['uri']           = $event['uri'];
 				$item_arr['parent-uri']    = $event['uri'];
 				$item_arr['guid']          = $event['guid'];
-				$item_arr['plink']         = defaults($arr, 'plink', '');
+				$item_arr['plink']         = $arr['plink'] ?? '';
 				$item_arr['post-type']     = Item::PT_EVENT;
 				$item_arr['wall']          = $event['cid'] ? 0 : 1;
 				$item_arr['contact-id']    = $contact['id'];
diff --git a/src/Model/GContact.php b/src/Model/GContact.php
index d6d69e98c..3caabdd19 100644
--- a/src/Model/GContact.php
+++ b/src/Model/GContact.php
@@ -255,7 +255,7 @@ class GContact
 			WHERE `glink`.`cid` = %d AND `glink`.`uid` = %d AND
 			((`gcontact`.`last_contact` >= `gcontact`.`last_failure`) OR
 			(`gcontact`.`updated` >= `gcontact`.`last_failure`))
-			AND `gcontact`.`nurl` IN (select nurl from contact where uid = %d and self = 0 and blocked = 0 and hidden = 0 and id != %d ) ",
+			AND `gcontact`.`nurl` IN (select nurl from contact where uid = %d and self = 0 and blocked = 0 and hidden = 0 and id != %d) ",
 			intval($cid),
 			intval($uid),
 			intval($uid),
@@ -281,7 +281,7 @@ class GContact
 			"SELECT count(*) as `total`
 			FROM `glink` INNER JOIN `gcontact` on `glink`.`gcid` = `gcontact`.`id`
 			where `glink`.`zcid` = %d
-			and `gcontact`.`nurl` in (select nurl from contact where uid = %d and self = 0 and blocked = 0 and hidden = 0 ) ",
+			and `gcontact`.`nurl` in (select nurl from contact where uid = %d and self = 0 and blocked = 0 and hidden = 0) ",
 			intval($zcid),
 			intval($uid)
 		);
@@ -353,7 +353,7 @@ class GContact
 			"SELECT `gcontact`.*
 			FROM `glink` INNER JOIN `gcontact` on `glink`.`gcid` = `gcontact`.`id`
 			where `glink`.`zcid` = %d
-			and `gcontact`.`nurl` in (select nurl from contact where uid = %d and self = 0 and blocked = 0 and hidden = 0 )
+			and `gcontact`.`nurl` in (select nurl from contact where uid = %d and self = 0 and blocked = 0 and hidden = 0)
 			$sql_extra limit %d, %d",
 			intval($zcid),
 			intval($uid),
@@ -686,9 +686,9 @@ class GContact
 				$doprobing = (((time() - $last_contact) > (90 * 86400)) && ((time() - $last_failure) > (90 * 86400)));
 			}
 		} else {
-			$contact['location'] = defaults($contact, 'location', '');
-			$contact['about'] = defaults($contact, 'about', '');
-			$contact['generation'] = defaults($contact, 'generation', 0);
+			$contact['location'] = $contact['location'] ?? '';
+			$contact['about'] = $contact['about'] ?? '';
+			$contact['generation'] = $contact['generation'] ?? 0;
 
 			q(
 				"INSERT INTO `gcontact` (`name`, `nick`, `addr` , `network`, `url`, `nurl`, `photo`, `created`, `updated`, `location`, `about`, `hide`, `generation`)
diff --git a/src/Model/GServer.php b/src/Model/GServer.php
index b86b5506c..d759a24df 100644
--- a/src/Model/GServer.php
+++ b/src/Model/GServer.php
@@ -814,7 +814,7 @@ class GServer
 
 		if (!empty($data['version'])) {
 			$serverdata['platform'] = 'mastodon';
-			$serverdata['version'] = defaults($data, 'version', '');
+			$serverdata['version'] = $data['version'] ?? '';
 			$serverdata['network'] = Protocol::ACTIVITYPUB;
 		}
 
@@ -1010,7 +1010,7 @@ class GServer
 			$serverdata['info'] = trim($data['info']);
 		}
 
-		$register_policy = defaults($data, 'register_policy', 'REGISTER_CLOSED');
+		$register_policy = ($data['register_policy'] ?? '') ?: 'REGISTER_CLOSED';
 		switch ($register_policy) {
 			case 'REGISTER_OPEN':
 				$serverdata['register_policy'] = Register::OPEN;
@@ -1030,7 +1030,7 @@ class GServer
 				break;
 		}
 
-		$serverdata['platform'] = defaults($data, 'platform', '');
+		$serverdata['platform'] = $data['platform'] ?? '';
 
 		return $serverdata;
 	}
diff --git a/src/Model/Item.php b/src/Model/Item.php
index c73ea99b1..ff0f46676 100644
--- a/src/Model/Item.php
+++ b/src/Model/Item.php
@@ -1313,11 +1313,11 @@ class Item extends BaseObject
 				$priority = $notify;
 			}
 		} else {
-			$item['network'] = trim(defaults($item, 'network', Protocol::PHANTOM));
+			$item['network'] = trim(($item['network'] ?? '') ?: Protocol::PHANTOM);
 		}
 
 		$item['guid'] = self::guid($item, $notify);
-		$item['uri'] = Strings::escapeTags(trim(defaults($item, 'uri', self::newURI($item['uid'], $item['guid']))));
+		$item['uri'] = Strings::escapeTags(trim(($item['uri'] ?? '') ?: self::newURI($item['uid'], $item['guid'])));
 
 		// Store URI data
 		$item['uri-id'] = ItemURI::insert(['uri' => $item['uri'], 'guid' => $item['guid']]);
@@ -1419,47 +1419,47 @@ class Item extends BaseObject
 			}
 		}
 
-		$item['wall']          = intval(defaults($item, 'wall', 0));
-		$item['extid']         = trim(defaults($item, 'extid', ''));
-		$item['author-name']   = trim(defaults($item, 'author-name', ''));
-		$item['author-link']   = trim(defaults($item, 'author-link', ''));
-		$item['author-avatar'] = trim(defaults($item, 'author-avatar', ''));
-		$item['owner-name']    = trim(defaults($item, 'owner-name', ''));
-		$item['owner-link']    = trim(defaults($item, 'owner-link', ''));
-		$item['owner-avatar']  = trim(defaults($item, 'owner-avatar', ''));
+		$item['wall']          = intval($item['wall'] ?? 0);
+		$item['extid']         = trim($item['extid'] ?? '');
+		$item['author-name']   = trim($item['author-name'] ?? '');
+		$item['author-link']   = trim($item['author-link'] ?? '');
+		$item['author-avatar'] = trim($item['author-avatar'] ?? '');
+		$item['owner-name']    = trim($item['owner-name'] ?? '');
+		$item['owner-link']    = trim($item['owner-link'] ?? '');
+		$item['owner-avatar']  = trim($item['owner-avatar'] ?? '');
 		$item['received']      = (isset($item['received'])  ? DateTimeFormat::utc($item['received'])  : DateTimeFormat::utcNow());
 		$item['created']       = (isset($item['created'])   ? DateTimeFormat::utc($item['created'])   : $item['received']);
 		$item['edited']        = (isset($item['edited'])    ? DateTimeFormat::utc($item['edited'])    : $item['created']);
 		$item['changed']       = (isset($item['changed'])   ? DateTimeFormat::utc($item['changed'])   : $item['created']);
 		$item['commented']     = (isset($item['commented']) ? DateTimeFormat::utc($item['commented']) : $item['created']);
-		$item['title']         = trim(defaults($item, 'title', ''));
-		$item['location']      = trim(defaults($item, 'location', ''));
-		$item['coord']         = trim(defaults($item, 'coord', ''));
+		$item['title']         = trim($item['title'] ?? '');
+		$item['location']      = trim($item['location'] ?? '');
+		$item['coord']         = trim($item['coord'] ?? '');
 		$item['visible']       = (isset($item['visible']) ? intval($item['visible']) : 1);
 		$item['deleted']       = 0;
-		$item['parent-uri']    = trim(defaults($item, 'parent-uri', $item['uri']));
-		$item['post-type']     = defaults($item, 'post-type', self::PT_ARTICLE);
-		$item['verb']          = trim(defaults($item, 'verb', ''));
-		$item['object-type']   = trim(defaults($item, 'object-type', ''));
-		$item['object']        = trim(defaults($item, 'object', ''));
-		$item['target-type']   = trim(defaults($item, 'target-type', ''));
-		$item['target']        = trim(defaults($item, 'target', ''));
-		$item['plink']         = trim(defaults($item, 'plink', ''));
-		$item['allow_cid']     = trim(defaults($item, 'allow_cid', ''));
-		$item['allow_gid']     = trim(defaults($item, 'allow_gid', ''));
-		$item['deny_cid']      = trim(defaults($item, 'deny_cid', ''));
-		$item['deny_gid']      = trim(defaults($item, 'deny_gid', ''));
-		$item['private']       = intval(defaults($item, 'private', 0));
-		$item['body']          = trim(defaults($item, 'body', ''));
-		$item['tag']           = trim(defaults($item, 'tag', ''));
-		$item['attach']        = trim(defaults($item, 'attach', ''));
-		$item['app']           = trim(defaults($item, 'app', ''));
-		$item['origin']        = intval(defaults($item, 'origin', 0));
-		$item['postopts']      = trim(defaults($item, 'postopts', ''));
-		$item['resource-id']   = trim(defaults($item, 'resource-id', ''));
-		$item['event-id']      = intval(defaults($item, 'event-id', 0));
-		$item['inform']        = trim(defaults($item, 'inform', ''));
-		$item['file']          = trim(defaults($item, 'file', ''));
+		$item['parent-uri']    = trim(($item['parent-uri'] ?? '') ?: $item['uri']);
+		$item['post-type']     = ($item['post-type'] ?? '') ?: self::PT_ARTICLE;
+		$item['verb']          = trim($item['verb'] ?? '');
+		$item['object-type']   = trim($item['object-type'] ?? '');
+		$item['object']        = trim($item['object'] ?? '');
+		$item['target-type']   = trim($item['target-type'] ?? '');
+		$item['target']        = trim($item['target'] ?? '');
+		$item['plink']         = trim($item['plink'] ?? '');
+		$item['allow_cid']     = trim($item['allow_cid'] ?? '');
+		$item['allow_gid']     = trim($item['allow_gid'] ?? '');
+		$item['deny_cid']      = trim($item['deny_cid'] ?? '');
+		$item['deny_gid']      = trim($item['deny_gid'] ?? '');
+		$item['private']       = intval($item['private'] ?? 0);
+		$item['body']          = trim($item['body'] ?? '');
+		$item['tag']           = trim($item['tag'] ?? '');
+		$item['attach']        = trim($item['attach'] ?? '');
+		$item['app']           = trim($item['app'] ?? '');
+		$item['origin']        = intval($item['origin'] ?? 0);
+		$item['postopts']      = trim($item['postopts'] ?? '');
+		$item['resource-id']   = trim($item['resource-id'] ?? '');
+		$item['event-id']      = intval($item['event-id'] ?? 0);
+		$item['inform']        = trim($item['inform'] ?? '');
+		$item['file']          = trim($item['file'] ?? '');
 
 		// When there is no content then we don't post it
 		if ($item['body'].$item['title'] == '') {
@@ -1479,12 +1479,12 @@ class Item extends BaseObject
 			$item['edited'] = DateTimeFormat::utcNow();
 		}
 
-		$item['plink'] = defaults($item, 'plink', System::baseUrl() . '/display/' . urlencode($item['guid']));
+		$item['plink'] = ($item['plink'] ?? '') ?: System::baseUrl() . '/display/' . urlencode($item['guid']);
 
 		$default = ['url' => $item['author-link'], 'name' => $item['author-name'],
 			'photo' => $item['author-avatar'], 'network' => $item['network']];
 
-		$item['author-id'] = defaults($item, 'author-id', Contact::getIdForURL($item['author-link'], 0, false, $default));
+		$item['author-id'] = ($item['author-id'] ?? 0) ?: Contact::getIdForURL($item['author-link'], 0, false, $default);
 
 		if (Contact::isBlocked($item['author-id'])) {
 			Logger::notice('Author is blocked node-wide', ['author-link' => $item['author-link'], 'item-uri' => $item['uri']]);
@@ -1504,7 +1504,7 @@ class Item extends BaseObject
 		$default = ['url' => $item['owner-link'], 'name' => $item['owner-name'],
 			'photo' => $item['owner-avatar'], 'network' => $item['network']];
 
-		$item['owner-id'] = defaults($item, 'owner-id', Contact::getIdForURL($item['owner-link'], 0, false, $default));
+		$item['owner-id'] = ($item['owner-id'] ?? 0) ?: Contact::getIdForURL($item['owner-link'], 0, false, $default);
 
 		if (Contact::isBlocked($item['owner-id'])) {
 			Logger::notice('Owner is blocked node-wide', ['owner-link' => $item['owner-link'], 'item-uri' => $item['uri']]);
@@ -2453,7 +2453,7 @@ class Item extends BaseObject
 			Contact::unmarkForArchival($contact);
 		}
 
-		$update = (!$arr['private'] && ((defaults($arr, 'author-link', '') === defaults($arr, 'owner-link', '')) || ($arr["parent-uri"] === $arr["uri"])));
+		$update = (!$arr['private'] && ((($arr['author-link'] ?? '') === ($arr['owner-link'] ?? '')) || ($arr["parent-uri"] === $arr["uri"])));
 
 		// Is it a forum? Then we don't care about the rules from above
 		if (!$update && in_array($arr["network"], [Protocol::ACTIVITYPUB, Protocol::DFRN]) && ($arr["parent-uri"] === $arr["uri"])) {
@@ -3334,8 +3334,8 @@ class Item extends BaseObject
 	{
 		$body = $item["body"];
 
-		$rendered_hash = defaults($item, 'rendered-hash', '');
-		$rendered_html = defaults($item, 'rendered-html', '');
+		$rendered_hash = $item['rendered-hash'] ?? '';
+		$rendered_html = $item['rendered-html'] ?? '';
 
 		if ($rendered_hash == ''
 			|| $rendered_html == ""
@@ -3491,7 +3491,7 @@ class Item extends BaseObject
 				$filesubtype = 'unkn';
 			}
 
-			$title = Strings::escapeHtml(trim(defaults($mtch, 4, $mtch[1])));
+			$title = Strings::escapeHtml(trim(($mtch[4] ?? '') ?: $mtch[1]));
 			$title .= ' ' . $mtch[2] . ' ' . L10n::t('bytes');
 
 			$icon = '<div class="attachtype icon s22 type-' . $filetype . ' subtype-' . $filesubtype . '"></div>';
diff --git a/src/Model/ItemContent.php b/src/Model/ItemContent.php
index 6d03ae325..68b42af92 100644
--- a/src/Model/ItemContent.php
+++ b/src/Model/ItemContent.php
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ class ItemContent extends BaseObject
 			}
 		}
 
-		$html = Text\BBCode::convert($post['text'] . defaults($post, 'after', ''), false, $htmlmode);
+		$html = Text\BBCode::convert($post['text'] . ($post['after'] ?? ''), false, $htmlmode);
 		$msg = Text\HTML::toPlaintext($html, 0, true);
 		$msg = trim(html_entity_decode($msg, ENT_QUOTES, 'UTF-8'));
 
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ class ItemContent extends BaseObject
 			if ($post['type'] == 'link') {
 				$link = $post['url'];
 			} elseif ($post['type'] == 'text') {
-				$link = defaults($post, 'url', '');
+				$link = $post['url'] ?? '';
 			} elseif ($post['type'] == 'video') {
 				$link = $post['url'];
 			} elseif ($post['type'] == 'photo') {
diff --git a/src/Model/PermissionSet.php b/src/Model/PermissionSet.php
index 90448806d..c9a0697eb 100644
--- a/src/Model/PermissionSet.php
+++ b/src/Model/PermissionSet.php
@@ -22,10 +22,10 @@ class PermissionSet extends BaseObject
 	public static function fetchIDForPost(&$postarray)
 	{
 		$condition = ['uid' => $postarray['uid'],
-			'allow_cid' => self::sortPermissions(defaults($postarray, 'allow_cid', '')),
-			'allow_gid' => self::sortPermissions(defaults($postarray, 'allow_gid', '')),
-			'deny_cid' => self::sortPermissions(defaults($postarray, 'deny_cid', '')),
-			'deny_gid' => self::sortPermissions(defaults($postarray, 'deny_gid', ''))];
+			'allow_cid' => self::sortPermissions($postarray['allow_cid'] ?? ''),
+			'allow_gid' => self::sortPermissions($postarray['allow_gid'] ?? ''),
+			'deny_cid'  => self::sortPermissions($postarray['deny_cid']  ?? ''),
+			'deny_gid'  => self::sortPermissions($postarray['deny_gid']  ?? '')];
 
 		$set = DBA::selectFirst('permissionset', ['id'], $condition);
 
diff --git a/src/Model/Profile.php b/src/Model/Profile.php
index 67c6a0eb6..b69860edf 100644
--- a/src/Model/Profile.php
+++ b/src/Model/Profile.php
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ class Profile
 			$location .= $profile['locality'];
 		}
 
-		if (!empty($profile['region']) && (defaults($profile, 'locality', '') != $profile['region'])) {
+		if (!empty($profile['region']) && (($profile['locality'] ?? '') != $profile['region'])) {
 			if ($location) {
 				$location .= ', ';
 			}
@@ -322,7 +322,7 @@ class Profile
 			return $o;
 		}
 
-		$profile['picdate'] = urlencode(defaults($profile, 'picdate', ''));
+		$profile['picdate'] = urlencode($profile['picdate'] ?? '');
 
 		if (($profile['network'] != '') && ($profile['network'] != Protocol::DFRN)) {
 			$profile['network_link'] = Strings::formatNetworkName($profile['network'], $profile['url']);
@@ -384,7 +384,7 @@ class Profile
 
 			if (Contact::canReceivePrivateMessages($profile)) {
 				if ($visitor_is_followed || $visitor_is_following) {
-					$wallmessage_link = $visitor_base_path . '/message/new/' . base64_encode(defaults($profile, 'addr', ''));
+					$wallmessage_link = $visitor_base_path . '/message/new/' . base64_encode($profile['addr'] ?? '');
 				} elseif ($visitor_is_authenticated && !empty($profile['unkmail'])) {
 					$wallmessage_link = 'wallmessage/' . $profile['nickname'];
 				}
@@ -460,14 +460,14 @@ class Profile
 			$diaspora = [
 				'guid' => $profile['guid'],
 				'podloc' => System::baseUrl(),
-				'searchable' => (($profile['publish'] && $profile['net-publish']) ? 'true' : 'false' ),
+				'searchable' => (($profile['publish'] && $profile['net-publish']) ? 'true' : 'false'),
 				'nickname' => $profile['nickname'],
 				'fullname' => $profile['name'],
 				'firstname' => $firstname,
 				'lastname' => $lastname,
-				'photo300' => defaults($profile, 'contact_photo', ''),
-				'photo100' => defaults($profile, 'contact_thumb', ''),
-				'photo50' => defaults($profile, 'contact_micro', ''),
+				'photo300' => $profile['contact_photo'] ?? '',
+				'photo100' => $profile['contact_thumb'] ?? '',
+				'photo50' => $profile['contact_micro'] ?? '',
 			];
 		} else {
 			$diaspora = false;
@@ -530,7 +530,7 @@ class Profile
 			$p['photo'] = ProxyUtils::proxifyUrl($p['photo'], false, ProxyUtils::SIZE_SMALL);
 		}
 
-		$p['url'] = Contact::magicLink(defaults($p, 'url', $profile_url));
+		$p['url'] = Contact::magicLink(($p['url'] ?? '') ?: $profile_url);
 
 		$tpl = Renderer::getMarkupTemplate('profile_vcard.tpl');
 		$o .= Renderer::replaceMacros($tpl, [
diff --git a/src/Model/Storage/Filesystem.php b/src/Model/Storage/Filesystem.php
index 82e638158..ff7c59444 100644
--- a/src/Model/Storage/Filesystem.php
+++ b/src/Model/Storage/Filesystem.php
@@ -132,7 +132,7 @@ class Filesystem implements IStorage
 	
 	public static function saveOptions($data)
 	{
-		$storagepath = defaults($data, 'storagepath', '');
+		$storagepath = $data['storagepath'] ?? '';
 		if ($storagepath === '' || !is_dir($storagepath)) {
 			return [
 				'storagepath' => L10n::t('Enter a valid existing folder')
diff --git a/src/Model/Term.php b/src/Model/Term.php
index 1de93fb05..01169c522 100644
--- a/src/Model/Term.php
+++ b/src/Model/Term.php
@@ -210,7 +210,7 @@ class Term
 	{
 		$profile_base = System::baseUrl();
 		$profile_data = parse_url($profile_base);
-		$profile_path = defaults($profile_data, 'path', '');
+		$profile_path = $profile_data['path'] ?? '';
 		$profile_base_friendica = $profile_data['host'] . $profile_path . '/profile/';
 		$profile_base_diaspora = $profile_data['host'] . $profile_path . '/u/';
 
diff --git a/src/Network/CurlResult.php b/src/Network/CurlResult.php
index c12bb2826..5b77c3963 100644
--- a/src/Network/CurlResult.php
+++ b/src/Network/CurlResult.php
@@ -167,7 +167,7 @@ class CurlResult
 		}
 
 		if ($this->returnCode == 301 || $this->returnCode == 302 || $this->returnCode == 303 || $this->returnCode== 307) {
-			$redirect_parts = parse_url(defaults($this->info, 'redirect_url', ''));
+			$redirect_parts = parse_url($this->info['redirect_url'] ?? '');
 			if (empty($redirect_parts)) {
 				$redirect_parts = [];
 			}
@@ -179,7 +179,7 @@ class CurlResult
 				}
 			}
 
-			$parts = parse_url(defaults($this->info, 'url', ''));
+			$parts = parse_url($this->info['url'] ?? '');
 			if (empty($parts)) {
 				$parts = [];
 			}
diff --git a/src/Network/Probe.php b/src/Network/Probe.php
index 3f10895c3..d6ea76631 100644
--- a/src/Network/Probe.php
+++ b/src/Network/Probe.php
@@ -348,7 +348,7 @@ class Probe
 		if (!self::$istimeout) {
 			$ap_profile = ActivityPub::probeProfile($uri);
 
-			if (empty($data) || (!empty($ap_profile) && empty($network) && (defaults($data, 'network', '') != Protocol::DFRN))) {
+			if (empty($data) || (!empty($ap_profile) && empty($network) && (($data['network'] ?? '') == Protocol::DFRN))) {
 				$data = $ap_profile;
 			} elseif (!empty($ap_profile)) {
 				$ap_profile['batch'] = '';
@@ -363,7 +363,7 @@ class Probe
 		}
 
 		if (!empty($data['photo'])) {
-			$data['baseurl'] = Network::getUrlMatch(Strings::normaliseLink(defaults($data, 'baseurl', '')), Strings::normaliseLink($data['photo']));
+			$data['baseurl'] = Network::getUrlMatch(Strings::normaliseLink($data['baseurl'] ?? ''), Strings::normaliseLink($data['photo']));
 		} else {
 			$data['photo'] = System::baseUrl() . '/images/person-300.jpg';
 		}
@@ -424,7 +424,7 @@ class Probe
 		}
 
 		// If the file is too large then exit
-		if (defaults($curlResult->getInfo(), 'download_content_length', 0) > 1000000) {
+		if (($curlResult->getInfo()['download_content_length'] ?? 0) > 1000000) {
 			return false;
 		}
 
@@ -547,7 +547,7 @@ class Probe
 				return [];
 			}
 
-			$path_parts = explode("/", trim(defaults($parts, 'path', ''), "/"));
+			$path_parts = explode("/", trim($parts['path'] ?? '', "/"));
 
 			while (!$lrdd && (sizeof($path_parts) > 1)) {
 				$host .= "/".array_shift($path_parts);
@@ -921,19 +921,19 @@ class Probe
 
 		if (empty($data["addr"]) || empty($data["nick"])) {
 			$probe_data = self::uri($profile_link);
-			$data["addr"] = defaults($data, "addr", $probe_data["addr"]);
-			$data["nick"] = defaults($data, "nick", $probe_data["nick"]);
+			$data["addr"] = ($data["addr"] ?? '') ?: $probe_data["addr"];
+			$data["nick"] = ($data["nick"] ?? '') ?: $probe_data["nick"];
 		}
 
 		$prof_data["addr"]         = $data["addr"];
 		$prof_data["nick"]         = $data["nick"];
-		$prof_data["dfrn-request"] = defaults($data, 'request', null);
-		$prof_data["dfrn-confirm"] = defaults($data, 'confirm', null);
-		$prof_data["dfrn-notify"]  = defaults($data, 'notify' , null);
-		$prof_data["dfrn-poll"]    = defaults($data, 'poll'   , null);
-		$prof_data["photo"]        = defaults($data, 'photo'  , null);
-		$prof_data["fn"]           = defaults($data, 'name'   , null);
-		$prof_data["key"]          = defaults($data, 'pubkey' , null);
+		$prof_data["dfrn-request"] = $data['request'] ?? null;
+		$prof_data["dfrn-confirm"] = $data['confirm'] ?? null;
+		$prof_data["dfrn-notify"]  = $data['notify']  ?? null;
+		$prof_data["dfrn-poll"]    = $data['poll']    ?? null;
+		$prof_data["photo"]        = $data['photo']   ?? null;
+		$prof_data["fn"]           = $data['name']    ?? null;
+		$prof_data["key"]          = $data['pubkey']  ?? null;
 
 		Logger::log("Result for profile ".$profile_link.": ".print_r($prof_data, true), Logger::DEBUG);
 
@@ -959,7 +959,7 @@ class Probe
 				$data["network"] = Protocol::DFRN;
 			} elseif (($link["rel"] == NAMESPACE_FEED) && !empty($link["href"])) {
 				$data["poll"] = $link["href"];
-			} elseif (($link["rel"] == "http://webfinger.net/rel/profile-page") && (defaults($link, "type", "") == "text/html") && !empty($link["href"])) {
+			} elseif (($link["rel"] == "http://webfinger.net/rel/profile-page") && (($link["type"] ?? "") == "text/html") && !empty($link["href"])) {
 				$data["url"] = $link["href"];
 			} elseif (($link["rel"] == "http://microformats.org/profile/hcard") && !empty($link["href"])) {
 				$hcard_url = $link["href"];
@@ -1169,7 +1169,7 @@ class Probe
 				$data["baseurl"] = trim($link["href"], '/');
 			} elseif (($link["rel"] == "http://joindiaspora.com/guid") && !empty($link["href"])) {
 				$data["guid"] = $link["href"];
-			} elseif (($link["rel"] == "http://webfinger.net/rel/profile-page") && (defaults($link, "type", "") == "text/html") && !empty($link["href"])) {
+			} elseif (($link["rel"] == "http://webfinger.net/rel/profile-page") && (($link["type"] ?? "") == "text/html") && !empty($link["href"])) {
 				$data["url"] = $link["href"];
 			} elseif (($link["rel"] == NAMESPACE_FEED) && !empty($link["href"])) {
 				$data["poll"] = $link["href"];
@@ -1267,7 +1267,7 @@ class Probe
 			// See: https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7033#section-4.4.4
 			foreach (array_reverse($webfinger["links"]) as $link) {
 				if (($link["rel"] == "http://webfinger.net/rel/profile-page")
-					&& (defaults($link, "type", "") == "text/html")
+					&& (($link["type"] ?? "") == "text/html")
 					&& ($link["href"] != "")
 				) {
 					$data["url"] = $link["href"];
@@ -1436,7 +1436,7 @@ class Probe
 		// See: https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7033#section-4.4.4
 		foreach (array_reverse($webfinger["links"]) as $link) {
 			if (($link["rel"] == "http://webfinger.net/rel/profile-page")
-				&& (defaults($link, "type", "") == "text/html")
+				&& (($link["type"] ?? "") == "text/html")
 				&& ($link["href"] != "")
 			) {
 				$data["url"] = $link["href"];
diff --git a/src/Object/Post.php b/src/Object/Post.php
index 2ef53d075..04775bbd0 100644
--- a/src/Object/Post.php
+++ b/src/Object/Post.php
@@ -805,7 +805,7 @@ class Post extends BaseObject
 		$terms = Term::tagArrayFromItemId($this->getId(), [Term::MENTION, Term::IMPLICIT_MENTION]);
 		foreach ($terms as $term) {
 			$profile = Contact::getDetailsByURL($term['url']);
-			if (!empty($profile['addr']) && (defaults($profile, 'contact-type', Contact::TYPE_UNKNOWN) != Contact::TYPE_COMMUNITY) &&
+			if (!empty($profile['addr']) && ((($profile['contact-type'] ?? '') ?: Contact::TYPE_UNKNOWN) != Contact::TYPE_COMMUNITY) &&
 				($profile['addr'] != $owner['addr']) && !strstr($text, $profile['addr'])) {
 				$text .= '@' . $profile['addr'] . ' ';
 			}
diff --git a/src/Protocol/ActivityPub.php b/src/Protocol/ActivityPub.php
index 3a8a5e5b1..522fee97e 100644
--- a/src/Protocol/ActivityPub.php
+++ b/src/Protocol/ActivityPub.php
@@ -57,8 +57,8 @@ class ActivityPub
 	 */
 	public static function isRequest()
 	{
-		return stristr(defaults($_SERVER, 'HTTP_ACCEPT', ''), 'application/activity+json') ||
-			stristr(defaults($_SERVER, 'HTTP_ACCEPT', ''), 'application/ld+json');
+		return stristr($_SERVER['HTTP_ACCEPT'] ?? '', 'application/activity+json') ||
+			stristr($_SERVER['HTTP_ACCEPT'] ?? '', 'application/ld+json');
 	}
 
 	/**
diff --git a/src/Protocol/ActivityPub/Processor.php b/src/Protocol/ActivityPub/Processor.php
index 7639d0f2a..50e8dd91e 100644
--- a/src/Protocol/ActivityPub/Processor.php
+++ b/src/Protocol/ActivityPub/Processor.php
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ class Processor
 
 		$tag_text = '';
 		foreach ($tags as $tag) {
-			if (in_array(defaults($tag, 'type', ''), ['Mention', 'Hashtag'])) {
+			if (in_array($tag['type'] ?? '', ['Mention', 'Hashtag'])) {
 				if (!empty($tag_text)) {
 					$tag_text .= ',';
 				}
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ class Processor
 				if (!isset($attach['length'])) {
 					$attach['length'] = "0";
 				}
-				$item["attach"] .= '[attach]href="'.$attach['url'].'" length="'.$attach['length'].'" type="'.$attach['mediaType'].'" title="'.defaults($attach, 'name', '').'"[/attach]';
+				$item["attach"] .= '[attach]href="'.$attach['url'].'" length="'.$attach['length'].'" type="'.$attach['mediaType'].'" title="'.($attach['name'] ?? '') .'"[/attach]';
 			}
 		}
 
@@ -183,7 +183,7 @@ class Processor
 			self::fetchMissingActivity($activity['reply-to-id'], $activity);
 		}
 
-		$item['diaspora_signed_text'] = defaults($activity, 'diaspora:comment', '');
+		$item['diaspora_signed_text'] = $activity['diaspora:comment'] ?? '';
 
 		self::postItem($activity, $item);
 	}
@@ -256,7 +256,7 @@ class Processor
 		$item['gravity'] = GRAVITY_ACTIVITY;
 		$item['object-type'] = ACTIVITY_OBJ_NOTE;
 
-		$item['diaspora_signed_text'] = defaults($activity, 'diaspora:like', '');
+		$item['diaspora_signed_text'] = $activity['diaspora:like'] ?? '';
 
 		self::postItem($activity, $item);
 	}
@@ -404,7 +404,7 @@ class Processor
 			return;
 		}
 
-		$item['plink'] = defaults($activity, 'alternate-url', $item['uri']);
+		$item['plink'] = $activity['alternate-url'] ?? $item['uri'];
 
 		$item = self::constructAttachList($activity['attachments'], $item, !empty($activity['source']));
 
@@ -583,8 +583,8 @@ class Processor
 		$activity['@context'] = $object['@context'];
 		unset($object['@context']);
 		$activity['id'] = $object['id'];
-		$activity['to'] = defaults($object, 'to', []);
-		$activity['cc'] = defaults($object, 'cc', []);
+		$activity['to'] = $object['to'] ?? [];
+		$activity['cc'] = $object['cc'] ?? [];
 		$activity['actor'] = $actor;
 		$activity['object'] = $object;
 		$activity['published'] = $published;
@@ -628,7 +628,7 @@ class Processor
 		$item = ['author-id' => Contact::getIdForURL($activity['actor']),
 			'author-link' => $activity['actor']];
 
-		$note = Strings::escapeTags(trim(defaults($activity, 'content', '')));
+		$note = Strings::escapeTags(trim($activity['content'] ?? ''));
 
 		// Ensure that the contact has got the right network type
 		self::switchContact($item['author-id']);
@@ -893,7 +893,7 @@ class Processor
 
 		// Extract one prepended mention at a time from the body
 		while(preg_match('#^(@\[url=([^\]]+)].*?\[\/url]\s)(.*)#is', $body, $matches)) {
-			if (!in_array($matches[2], $potential_mentions) ) {
+			if (!in_array($matches[2], $potential_mentions)) {
 				$kept_mentions[] = $matches[1];
 			}
 
diff --git a/src/Protocol/ActivityPub/Receiver.php b/src/Protocol/ActivityPub/Receiver.php
index 058d210a2..f23269615 100644
--- a/src/Protocol/ActivityPub/Receiver.php
+++ b/src/Protocol/ActivityPub/Receiver.php
@@ -46,8 +46,8 @@ class Receiver
 	 */
 	public static function isRequest()
 	{
-		return stristr(defaults($_SERVER, 'HTTP_ACCEPT', ''), 'application/activity+json') ||
-			stristr(defaults($_SERVER, 'HTTP_ACCEPT', ''), 'application/ld+json');
+		return stristr($_SERVER['HTTP_ACCEPT'] ?? '', 'application/activity+json') ||
+			stristr($_SERVER['HTTP_ACCEPT'] ?? '', 'application/ld+json');
 	}
 
 	/**
@@ -260,7 +260,7 @@ class Receiver
 		$object_data['type'] = $type;
 		$object_data['actor'] = $actor;
 		$object_data['item_receiver'] = $receivers;
-		$object_data['receiver'] = array_merge(defaults($object_data, 'receiver', []), $receivers);
+		$object_data['receiver'] = array_merge($object_data['receiver'] ?? [], $receivers);
 
 		Logger::log('Processing ' . $object_data['type'] . ' ' . $object_data['object_type'] . ' ' . $object_data['id'], Logger::DEBUG);
 
@@ -301,9 +301,9 @@ class Receiver
 		$conversation = [
 			'protocol' => Conversation::PARCEL_ACTIVITYPUB,
 			'item-uri' => $activity['id'],
-			'reply-to-uri' => defaults($activity, 'reply-to-id', ''),
-			'conversation-href' => defaults($activity, 'context', ''),
-			'conversation-uri' => defaults($activity, 'conversation', ''),
+			'reply-to-uri' => $activity['reply-to-id'] ?? '',
+			'conversation-href' => $activity['context'] ?? '',
+			'conversation-uri' => $activity['conversation'] ?? '',
 			'source' => $body,
 			'received' => DateTimeFormat::utcNow()];
 
@@ -508,7 +508,7 @@ class Receiver
 
 		if (!empty($actor)) {
 			$profile = APContact::getByURL($actor);
-			$followers = defaults($profile, 'followers', '');
+			$followers = $profile['followers'] ?? '';
 
 			Logger::log('Actor: ' . $actor . ' - Followers: ' . $followers, Logger::DEBUG);
 		} else {
diff --git a/src/Protocol/DFRN.php b/src/Protocol/DFRN.php
index 7dee12b56..d557af069 100644
--- a/src/Protocol/DFRN.php
+++ b/src/Protocol/DFRN.php
@@ -119,8 +119,8 @@ class DFRN
 		foreach ($items as $item) {
 			// These values aren't sent when sending from the queue.
 			/// @todo Check if we can set these values from the queue or if they are needed at all.
-			$item["entry:comment-allow"] = defaults($item, "entry:comment-allow", true);
-			$item["entry:cid"] = defaults($item, "entry:cid", 0);
+			$item["entry:comment-allow"] = ($item["entry:comment-allow"] ?? '') ?: true;
+			$item["entry:cid"] = $item["entry:cid"] ?? 0;
 
 			$entry = self::entry($doc, "text", $item, $owner, $item["entry:comment-allow"], $item["entry:cid"]);
 			if (isset($entry)) {
@@ -1259,7 +1259,7 @@ class DFRN
 		$sent_dfrn_id = hex2bin((string) $res->dfrn_id);
 		$challenge    = hex2bin((string) $res->challenge);
 		$perm         = (($res->perm) ? $res->perm : null);
-		$dfrn_version = (float) (($res->dfrn_version) ? $res->dfrn_version : 2.0);
+		$dfrn_version = floatval($res->dfrn_version ?: 2.0);
 		$rino_remote_version = intval($res->rino);
 		$page         = (($owner['page-flags'] == User::PAGE_FLAGS_COMMUNITY) ? 1 : 0);
 
@@ -2019,8 +2019,8 @@ class DFRN
 				return false;
 			}
 
-			$fields = ['title' => defaults($item, 'title', ''), 'body' => defaults($item, 'body', ''),
-					'tag' => defaults($item, 'tag', ''), 'changed' => DateTimeFormat::utcNow(),
+			$fields = ['title' => $item['title'] ?? '', 'body' => $item['body'] ?? '',
+					'tag' => $item['tag'] ?? '', 'changed' => DateTimeFormat::utcNow(),
 					'edited' => DateTimeFormat::utc($item["edited"])];
 
 			$condition = ["`uri` = ? AND `uid` IN (0, ?)", $item["uri"], $importer["importer_uid"]];
diff --git a/src/Protocol/Email.php b/src/Protocol/Email.php
index a6090ce91..06cf86125 100644
--- a/src/Protocol/Email.php
+++ b/src/Protocol/Email.php
@@ -544,7 +544,7 @@ class Email
 			}
 
 			$quotelevel = 0;
-			$nextline = trim(defaults($arrbody, $i + 1, ''));
+			$nextline = trim($arrbody[$i + 1] ?? '');
 			while ((strlen($nextline)>0) && ((substr($nextline, 0, 1) == '>')
 				|| (substr($nextline, 0, 1) == ' '))) {
 				if (substr($nextline, 0, 1) == '>') {
diff --git a/src/Protocol/OStatus.php b/src/Protocol/OStatus.php
index 054eaf51b..afd406f97 100644
--- a/src/Protocol/OStatus.php
+++ b/src/Protocol/OStatus.php
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ class OStatus
 		}
 		$author["author-id"] = Contact::getIdForURL($author["author-link"]);
 
-		$author['contact-id'] = defaults($contact, 'id', $author['author-id']);
+		$author['contact-id'] = ($contact['id'] ?? 0) ?: $author['author-id'];
 
 		$contact = [];
 
@@ -1131,7 +1131,7 @@ class OStatus
 							if (!isset($attribute['length'])) {
 								$attribute['length'] = "0";
 							}
-							$item["attach"] .= '[attach]href="'.$attribute['href'].'" length="'.$attribute['length'].'" type="'.$attribute['type'].'" title="'.defaults($attribute, 'title', '').'"[/attach]';
+							$item["attach"] .= '[attach]href="'.$attribute['href'].'" length="'.$attribute['length'].'" type="'.$attribute['type'].'" title="'.($attribute['title'] ?? '') .'"[/attach]';
 						}
 						break;
 					case "related":
@@ -1403,7 +1403,8 @@ class OStatus
 						"href" => $siteinfo["url"],
 						"type" => "text/html; charset=UTF-8",
 						"length" => "",
-						"title" => defaults($siteinfo, "title", $siteinfo["url"])];
+						"title" => ($siteinfo["title"] ?? '') ?: $siteinfo["url"],
+				];
 				XML::addElement($doc, $root, "link", "", $attributes);
 				break;
 			default:
diff --git a/src/Util/Emailer.php b/src/Util/Emailer.php
index 4310046c2..d7ca234a9 100644
--- a/src/Util/Emailer.php
+++ b/src/Util/Emailer.php
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ class Emailer
 				.rand(10000, 99999);
 
 		// generate a multipart/alternative message header
-		$messageHeader = defaults($params, 'additionalMailHeader', '') .
+		$messageHeader = ($params['additionalMailHeader'] ?? '') .
 						"From: $fromName <{$params['fromEmail']}>\n" .
 						"Reply-To: $fromName <{$params['replyTo']}>\n" .
 						"MIME-Version: 1.0\n" .
diff --git a/src/Util/Logger/SyslogLogger.php b/src/Util/Logger/SyslogLogger.php
index 83c3fc3ce..7ef4f6b27 100644
--- a/src/Util/Logger/SyslogLogger.php
+++ b/src/Util/Logger/SyslogLogger.php
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ class SyslogLogger extends AbstractLogger
 	}
 
 	/**
-	 * Maps the LogLevel (@see LogLevel ) to a SysLog priority (@see http://php.net/manual/en/function.syslog.php#refsect1-function.syslog-parameters )
+	 * Maps the LogLevel (@see LogLevel) to a SysLog priority (@see http://php.net/manual/en/function.syslog.php#refsect1-function.syslog-parameters)
 	 *
 	 * @param string $level A LogLevel
 	 *
diff --git a/src/Util/Network.php b/src/Util/Network.php
index cd66abe0b..7e1012827 100644
--- a/src/Util/Network.php
+++ b/src/Util/Network.php
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ class Network
 
 		$parts2 = [];
 		$parts = parse_url($url);
-		$path_parts = explode('/', defaults($parts, 'path', ''));
+		$path_parts = explode('/', $parts['path'] ?? '');
 		foreach ($path_parts as $part) {
 			if (strlen($part) <> mb_strlen($part)) {
 				$parts2[] = rawurlencode($part);
@@ -380,7 +380,7 @@ class Network
 		/// @TODO Really suppress function outcomes? Why not find them + debug them?
 		$h = @parse_url($url);
 
-		if (!empty($h['host']) && (@dns_get_record($h['host'], DNS_A + DNS_CNAME) || filter_var($h['host'], FILTER_VALIDATE_IP) )) {
+		if (!empty($h['host']) && (@dns_get_record($h['host'], DNS_A + DNS_CNAME) || filter_var($h['host'], FILTER_VALIDATE_IP))) {
 			return $url;
 		}
 
@@ -406,7 +406,7 @@ class Network
 		$h = substr($addr, strpos($addr, '@') + 1);
 
 		// Concerning the @ see here: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/36280957/dns-get-record-a-temporary-server-error-occurred
-		if ($h && (@dns_get_record($h, DNS_A + DNS_MX) || filter_var($h, FILTER_VALIDATE_IP) )) {
+		if ($h && (@dns_get_record($h, DNS_A + DNS_MX) || filter_var($h, FILTER_VALIDATE_IP))) {
 			return true;
 		}
 		if ($h && @dns_get_record($h, DNS_CNAME + DNS_MX)) {
@@ -801,8 +801,8 @@ class Network
 		$i = 0;
 		$path = "";
 		do {
-			$path1 = defaults($pathparts1, $i, '');
-			$path2 = defaults($pathparts2, $i, '');
+			$path1 = $pathparts1[$i] ?? '';
+			$path2 = $pathparts2[$i] ?? '';
 
 			if ($path1 == $path2) {
 				$path .= $path1."/";
diff --git a/src/Util/ParseUrl.php b/src/Util/ParseUrl.php
index 9a3de88cf..4590f39a9 100644
--- a/src/Util/ParseUrl.php
+++ b/src/Util/ParseUrl.php
@@ -141,7 +141,7 @@ class ParseUrl
 		}
 
 		// If the file is too large then exit
-		if (defaults($curlResult->getInfo(), 'download_content_length', 0) > 1000000) {
+		if (($curlResult->getInfo()['download_content_length'] ?? 0) > 1000000) {
 			return $siteinfo;
 		}
 
diff --git a/src/Util/Profiler.php b/src/Util/Profiler.php
index dc140469c..e745a8bbd 100644
--- a/src/Util/Profiler.php
+++ b/src/Util/Profiler.php
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ use Psr\Log\LoggerInterface;
  * A class to store profiling data
  * It can handle different logging data for specific functions or global performance measures
  *
- * It stores the data as log entries (@see LoggerInterface )
+ * It stores the data as log entries (@see LoggerInterface)
  */
 class Profiler implements ContainerInterface
 {
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ class Profiler implements ContainerInterface
 			return;
 		}
 
-		$duration = (float) (microtime(true) - $timestamp);
+		$duration = floatval(microtime(true) - $timestamp);
 
 		if (!isset($this->performance[$value])) {
 			// Prevent ugly E_NOTICE
diff --git a/src/Worker/Delivery.php b/src/Worker/Delivery.php
index 865288563..1c10b0859 100644
--- a/src/Worker/Delivery.php
+++ b/src/Worker/Delivery.php
@@ -250,7 +250,7 @@ class Delivery extends BaseObject
 	 */
 	private static function deliverDFRN($cmd, $contact, $owner, $items, $target_item, $public_message, $top_level, $followup)
 	{
-		Logger::log('Deliver ' . defaults($target_item, 'guid', $target_item['id']) . ' via DFRN to ' . (empty($contact['addr']) ? $contact['url'] : $contact['addr']));
+		Logger::info('Deliver ' . (($target_item['guid'] ?? '') ?: $target_item['id']) . ' via DFRN to ' . (($contact['addr'] ?? '') ?: $contact['url']));
 
 		if ($cmd == self::MAIL) {
 			$item = $target_item;
@@ -278,7 +278,7 @@ class Delivery extends BaseObject
 			$atom = DFRN::entries($msgitems, $owner);
 		}
 
-		Logger::log('Notifier entry: ' . $contact["url"] . ' ' . defaults($target_item, 'guid', $target_item['id']) . ' entry: ' . $atom, Logger::DATA);
+		Logger::debug('Notifier entry: ' . $contact["url"] . ' ' . (($target_item['guid'] ?? '') ?: $target_item['id']) . ' entry: ' . $atom, Logger::DATA);
 
 		$basepath =  implode('/', array_slice(explode('/', $contact['url']), 0, 3));
 
@@ -359,7 +359,7 @@ class Delivery extends BaseObject
 			$protocol = Model\ItemDeliveryData::LEGACY_DFRN;
 		}
 
-		Logger::info('DFRN Delivery', ['cmd' => $cmd, 'url' => $contact['url'], 'guid' => defaults($target_item, 'guid', $target_item['id']), 'return' => $deliver_status]);
+		Logger::info('DFRN Delivery', ['cmd' => $cmd, 'url' => $contact['url'], 'guid' => ($target_item['guid'] ?? '') ?: $target_item['id'], 'return' => $deliver_status]);
 
 		if (($deliver_status >= 200) && ($deliver_status <= 299)) {
 			// We successfully delivered a message, the contact is alive
@@ -372,7 +372,7 @@ class Delivery extends BaseObject
 			// The message could not be delivered. We mark the contact as "dead"
 			Model\Contact::markForArchival($contact);
 
-			Logger::info('Delivery failed: defer message', ['id' => defaults($target_item, 'guid', $target_item['id'])]);
+			Logger::info('Delivery failed: defer message', ['id' => ($target_item['guid'] ?? '') ?: $target_item['id']]);
 			if (!Worker::defer() && in_array($cmd, [Delivery::POST, Delivery::POKE])) {
 				Model\ItemDeliveryData::incrementQueueFailed($target_item['id']);
 			}
@@ -463,7 +463,7 @@ class Delivery extends BaseObject
 			}
 
 			if (empty($contact['contact-type']) || ($contact['contact-type'] != Model\Contact::TYPE_RELAY)) {
-				Logger::info('Delivery failed: defer message', ['id' => defaults($target_item, 'guid', $target_item['id'])]);
+				Logger::info('Delivery failed: defer message', ['id' => ($target_item['guid'] ?? '') ?: $target_item['id']]);
 				// defer message for redelivery
 				if (!Worker::defer() && in_array($cmd, [Delivery::POST, Delivery::POKE])) {
 					Model\ItemDeliveryData::incrementQueueFailed($target_item['id']);
diff --git a/src/Worker/GProbe.php b/src/Worker/GProbe.php
index 3c7136347..415c8f3ae 100644
--- a/src/Worker/GProbe.php
+++ b/src/Worker/GProbe.php
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ class GProbe {
 			$result = Cache::get("gprobe:".$urlparts["host"]);
 			if (!is_null($result)) {
 				if (in_array($result["network"], [Protocol::FEED, Protocol::PHANTOM])) {
-					Logger::log("DDoS attempt detected for ".$urlparts["host"]." by ".defaults($_SERVER, "REMOTE_ADDR", '').". server data: ".print_r($_SERVER, true), Logger::DEBUG);
+					Logger::debug("DDoS attempt detected for " . $urlparts["host"] . " by " . ($_SERVER["REMOTE_ADDR"] ?? ''), ['$_SERVER' => $_SERVER]);
 					return;
 				}
 			}