Last August I posted a note to Substack that outlined my criteria for publishing writing. It should be:

1. Interesting (to me)
2. Communicated as clearly as I can
3. Useful to the reader

I mostly still agree with these but wanted to include my general ethical attitude/approach toward my writing. Here it is, in no particular order.

1. I think what I’m writing about is valuable in some way. I wouldn’t share it otherwise.
2. My intent therefore is to share that with the reader. That’s basically it. I don’t want to inflame emotions, get you to buy something, troll or make you feel bad.
3. I’m not writing for a specific audience.
4. Writing is both a means and an end for me.
5. I only write what I’d also be comfortable saying, or defending if need be, in person.
6. I’ll try to write as clearly as I can. I might use certain words or techniques but my intent is never to manipulate. This is obviously a balancing act, but I’d rather someone be bored and leave than to be tricked.
7. I won’t lie or make things up.
8. I’m mostly interested in things that you can point to or that seem intuitively right. I don’t make metaphysical claims.
9. I want to write as truthfully as I can, but don’t expect exactitudes. That’s not the point of my writing. I might say something like: “we’d be better off drinking water instead of Fanta or whiskey.” One could pick apart that sentence endlessly, but you get what I’m trying to say. This is why I use a lot of words like ‘might’ or ‘probably’. I don’t ever want something I write to be misconstrued or misunderstood as an absolute claim.
10. I have opinions but I won’t ever try to force them on you. I try not to write moralistically or judgmentally. For example, although I don’t think it’s a good idea to lie, I will never say that people who lie are evil or that you should never lie. If you want to read what I write, great! If you don’t, great!
11. I write about topics I feel confident enough to explore and perhaps offer something valuable to the reader. That said, writing about something doesn’t ever mean I know what I’m talking about.
12. Aside from minor tweaks, I don’t dramatically rewrite articles once they’ve been published. If I do seriously change my mind, I might remove the post.
13. I occasionally use LLMs for writing support.
14. I’m often thinking or relating to real people, places and things that happen in my life, but in almost all cases I won’t use names or details of real people. 
15. I’ll occasionally quote books or articles, and if I do I’ll make a footnote. But I’m not a good fact-checker. For example, if I quote Socrates or a Wikipedia article, I’m not doing deep research to make sure it’s correct. I go by intuition, and if I feel unsure about the source, I won’t quote it.
    

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