My Ethics

I have some rules about how we do things here.

I think our motto says it best:

No AI. No influencing. No Ads. No B.S. Just the Real World.

But you may have some questions like, “How can you write tour reviews and not be an influencer of some kind"?”, or, “How do you make money to support the website?” Let’s break that down.

My Stance on AI

I do not post AI-generated content. Every sentence you read -misspellings, grammar mistakes, and all- is hand-written by me. Every single photograph on here was taken by a human, using a real camera, in a real place, capturing a real moment in time. Our metadata -SEO, Alt Text, and everything else- that’s all me, too.

It would be naïve and misleading to suggest that zero application of AI tools went into making this webpage. AI is inextricably part of all modern photography processing software, and it is incredible helpful debugging the CSS and Javascript which create this page … but there is, in my opinion, a massive difference between assisting and generating.

AI is a brilliant tool, but it cannot replace human creativity, nor should it replace the amazing world we live in.

My Stance on Influencing

Let’s clarify up-front - I am referring to the following definition, taken from Merriam-Webster:

A person who is able to generate interest in something (such as a consumer product) by posting about it on social media.

To level-set:

  • I do not review products I haven’t paid for out of my own pocket,

  • I do not review products I haven’t tried,

  • I do not allow vendors to comment on reviews prior to me posting them,

  • I do not misrepresent others’ opinions as my own, and,

  • I do not endorse products for monetary gain.

I am equally content to endorse or criticize a product, but that decision is my own and formulated by my own opinions and nobody else’s.

My Stance on Advertising

This one is pretty simple: I do not generate any income from this website. Similarly, I do not accept products, even at a discount. I actually spend quite a bit of my own money to run this webpage.

I’ve always said: A job is something you’d never do for free, and a hobby is something you’d never want to get paid for.

My Stance on B.S.

I don’t embellish my travelogues for the sake of readership, and everything on this website -photographs, narrations, all of it- is as it was (or, in some retrospective cases, as best I can remember it.)

You want flashy stories and plot-twists? Best read a fantasy novel.

My Other Stances

You will notice there are no photos of me on this website, save one on the “About Me” page. This website is not meant to be about me, but rather the world around us, which -I assure you- is significantly more interesting. My insights are meant to contextualize this experience rather than become a memorial to self-importance. Plus you probably don’t want to see me, anyway.

You’ll similarly notice there are very, very few photographs of people on this website, all of which were taken in public and only included to visually describe a cultural experience. Furthermore, whenever possible, I avoid taking photographs of peoples’ faces.

I don’t ask that you necessarily agree with my perspectives on these matters, but -rather- simply respect them.
Thanks for visiting!