Greetings, internet stranger. This is Matthew Butterick. Hoping for the best, I have put up this server to consolidate questions & discussions about my various projects. Let’s see what happens.

Despite this server being accessible to the public, it is not public property. Think of it like a picnic happening in my backyard: I’m the host and I get to set the rules. Which are:

Rule of civility

If you’re nice and have useful things to contribute, you can stay. If not, you can’t. Ask yourself: is this something you would say in a backyard conversation with another person? Please refrain from personal attacks, thread hijacking, excessive off-topic commentary, and monologue-style ranting.

Rule against bullshit

A considerable amount of the lore about typography and design that circulates on the internet is easily shown to be untrue. Please make a reasonable effort to confirm factual assertions. Otherwise please don’t amplify nonsense, nor post it as a means of invoking Cunningham’s Law. Please also refrain from posting memes, reaction GIFs, links to well-trodden internet cartoons, etc. There are other places for all that. Please also do not post AI-generated material.

Rule against LaTeX evangelism

Please do not hijack threads with abstract or overbroad claims about the typesetting superiority of LaTeX.

Rule against conflicts of interest

Please don’t qualify posts with nonsense like “I don’t speak for my employer, MegaCorp …” If you have some duty of loyalty (through employment or otherwise) to MegaCorp, then whatever you say is fairly imputed to be in MegaCorp’s interest. If you don’t want that imputation to arise, then don’t post on that topic.

Rule against advertising

I don’t mind recommendations of projects & products, paid or free, as long as a) they arise naturally in the context of a discussion and b) you disclose any financial or other interest in the item being recommended. Don’t use this website as a substrate for generic marketing or advertising. Nor as a helpdesk for your SEO or adware business.

Rule of pedagogy

I have a longstanding policy against dispensing individualized typographic advice because the point of my work is to help people learn to make those decisions for themselves. If you ask me to suggest a specific font for a certain project, or weigh in on other details: no.

Rule of editing

I reserve the option to make small edits to posts to correct errors of formatting, missing or malformed hyperlinks, misleading titles, or other nits.

Rule of autocracy

Whether I warn you or eject you for violation of the rules is up to me. If you have an existing record of bad behavior on other discussion forums, or in the world generally, that is also grounds for ejection, even before you ever post anything.

Rule against multiple asterisms

Only one person gets to use the asterism as their forum icon: me.