Digital Garden Terms of Service

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Chandu Avni’s Digital Garden Terms of Serviceis based on Shawn Wang’s Digital Garden Terms of Service (available under CC0-1.0 license). Shawn Wang defined the need for a “not-legally-binding “terms of service” for people who peruse Digital Gardens, and the people who Learn in Public with them.”

For Visitors

Welcome! You are now browsing a Digital Garden. This is my personal space for Learning In Public. I am a lifelong learner so everything is a Work-In-Progress like me, but I do not let perfectionism get in the way. That means that what you read here is not authoritative or complete, and is not representative of my best work.

However, it is representative of my interests and current state of knowledge, and if you have the same interests, then this space is also yours to use as a reference. Feedback and social sharing is welcome - that is the whole point of being public!

1. Right to Be Wrong

I have a right to be wrong or incomplete in my Digital Garden, either due to paucity of time or knowledge. You will not hold this, or my readership, against me because I will keep learning, with your help. Everything in the Digital Garden is a living document and I will retract or rephrase things I no longer agree with.

2. Constructive Criticism

You are expressly welcome to comment on, tear apart, counter-argue, or outright disagree on anything here. No compliment sandwich needed - I learn most from critics. I will listen to you but I don’t promise to agree with you. Please also suggest what else I should include, read, watch, or listen to, or tell me what you would have written instead.

Better yet, write a better version of what I did and publish it on your own Garden. I’d love to read it.

3. Attribute, don’t Plagiarize

Don’t plagiarize. You’re welcome to quote, with attribution and a link back here. I don’t waive copyright for commercial purposes. But feel free to share ideas and riff off of them.

For Gardeners

Congratulations! You are now the proud owner of your own corner of the Internet. This is a second brain that exists outside your natural one - it is very good at remembering everything, searching and organizing facts and links, and saving you keystrokes. Your second brain is fertile ground: If you tend to it well, your Digital Garden will help you be a lifelong learner, catch you friends while you sleep, and bear fruits in unexpected ways.

However there are some ground rules to being a responsible Digital Gardener, and some things you can do to increase the yield on your work.

1. Consideration of Others

  • I will not publish private conversations or confidential information, without relevant parties’ informed consent.
  • I will consider the feelings of others if I ever write negatively about something people have worked on or said.
  • I will do my best to cover my bases and check that I have not assumed incompetence or malice due to my ignorance of the full body of work.
  • I will err on the side of treating others as THEY want to be treated.
  • I will “steelman” arguments - the opposite of “strawman arguments” - instead of picking on the weakest piece of their argument, I will confront head on their best argument by seeking first to understand before trying to be understood.

2. Epistemic Disclosure

  • I will report how strongly I hold my beliefs, always reserving the right to be wrong and change my mind.
  • I will report how much experience I have in the topic, by disclosing how much work I have done so far on it and linking to others who will know more.
  • I will link to further resources so that readers can discover influencing and contrasting opinions from the original source.

In the spirit of this, the practice of disclosing epistemic status and effort originates from Devon Zuegel. I don’t think this always needs be disclosed, for example if it is obvious from context. But it never hurts.

3. Response to Feedback

  • I will not get discouraged if I don’t receive feedback. I plant ideas in my Digital Garden for my own use, not solely to get visitors.
  • I will reward feedback by listening and immediately correcting things I got wrong.
  • I do not promise to agree with or respond to all feedback.