My Promise

1. Your Privacy Comes First

I'm not interested in collecting information about you that I don't need.

I won't deliberately install invasive advertising trackers, sell your personal information, or build behavioral profiles of visitors.

I won't require an account just to read an article or browse recommendations.

Where information genuinely needs to be collected—for example, when you contact me—I'll explain what is collected, why it's needed, and how it's handled.

I'll make reasonable efforts to secure the information entrusted to me and minimize how much is retained.

I can't promise that any website is perfectly secure. Nobody can honestly promise that.

But I can promise that protecting your privacy will be a priority rather than an inconvenience.

2. Recommendations Are Made in Good Faith

If I recommend something, it's because I genuinely believe it has value.

Not because somebody paid me to say so.

Not because I want to manufacture a problem so I can sell you the solution.

And not because a company sent me a particularly convincing marketing email.

I'll make an effort to research the products and services I discuss, understand their limitations, and distinguish what I've personally tested from what I've learned through independent research.

I'll also tell you what I don't like.

Because a recommendation without its drawbacks isn't much of a recommendation.

3. I'm Still Learning

Here's something worth making absolutely clear:

I don't know everything.

I'm learning as I go.

Sometimes I'll misunderstand something.

Sometimes I'll overlook something important.

And sometimes I'll just be straight-up wrong.

When that happens, I want to know.

If you spot a mistake, challenge a claim, or find evidence that contradicts something I've published, please tell me.

I'll review it, correct genuine errors, and acknowledge material changes.

I'm not interested in defending a bad recommendation simply because I made it.

Being wrong isn't the problem. Refusing to learn is.

4. Verify Things for Yourself

Please don't treat my recommendations as gospel.

Use them as starting points.

Read the documentation.

Check the source code if you can.

Look for independent security audits and trustworthy third-party assessments.

And if you're making an important decision involving sensitive information, security, finances, or business infrastructure, consider consulting somebody appropriately qualified.

I'm sharing what I've learned and what I believe to be useful.

I'm not offering professional cybersecurity, legal, financial, or other regulated advice.

Your circumstances may be different from mine, and the best choice for me might not be the best choice for you.

5. Money Doesn't Buy My Opinion

Ravencache may eventually earn money through donations, sponsorships, affiliate links, or software I develop.

I'd like this project to pay for its own hosting, equipment, research, and continued development.

I'd also like to keep building useful things.

None of that is particularly mysterious.

But financial relationships won't determine what I recommend or what I say about a product.

Companies cannot purchase a positive review, favorable ranking, or placement in the alternatives directory.

Any material sponsorship or affiliate relationship will be disclosed clearly alongside the relevant content.

If I earn a commission when you buy something, you'll know.

If a company sponsors an episode of Loose Wires, you'll know.

If I'm talking about something I built myself, you'll know that, too.

The money should support the work. It shouldn't dictate the work.

6. My Work Isn't Above Criticism

If I release software, it should be subject to the same scrutiny I apply to other people's software.

I'll disclose my involvement and financial interests.

I'll acknowledge limitations and known problems.

And if I recommend my own software, I'll also point readers toward at least one genuinely comparable, independently developed alternative.

You shouldn't have to trust my work just because I made it.

I should have to earn that trust like anybody else.

7. No Place for Organised Hate

Alt-right, fascist, neo-Nazi, and white-supremacist movements have no place here. This is my website, and I’m not interested in giving that shit a platform.

I won’t recommend, promote, or take sponsorship from applications, companies, or creators with documented organisational ties to those movements. That includes ownership, funding, leadership, or material support. Being small, independent, or open source doesn’t get anyone a pass.

I’ll check evidence rather than repeat a rumour or treat an accusation as a fact. If credible information changes what I know about something I’ve featured, I’ll review it, remove it where appropriate, and explain a material change. If I get the facts wrong, I’ll correct them.

People are welcome here. Organised hate isn’t.

8. No Bullshit Guarantees

I won't promise that every recommendation is perfect.

I won't promise that every project will succeed.

I won't promise that I can personally investigate every claim made by every company.

And I definitely won't promise that I won't occasionally make a spectacularly stupid technical decision.

But I will make a good-faith effort to be transparent, accurate, fair, and accountable.

That's what I can offer, and I think that's a reasonable place to start.