loading . . . <p>I’ve been struggling quite a lot recently with negative reactions to what I write about railways, but not in the “you’re wrong” sort of way, but a more insidious kind of casting doubt about my ability, my motivation or my knowledge.</p>
<p>So here I am going to lay out some assumptions you ought to make about what I write, and why I write it.</p>
<ol>
<li>I write what I write because I want it to be correct, not in order to be popular.</li>
<li>I may well be wrong, but I am not stupid.</li>
<li>When it comes to railways, assume I am writing from the point of view of a knowledgeable lay person, but someone who has done a decent amount of research before writing something. I do not work for a railway company, and it will show.</li>
<li>I have a bunch of biases that will impact what I write. I am generally pro-rail, pro-sustainable transport. But I am not going lambast people for driving or flying if sustainable options are not available. And on a core railway issue – public vs. private – I have a very messy position, where I see upsides and downsides to both – just because many railway people see that as a central question means you should not assume I fall into one camp or another.</li>
<li>As I am self employed, I have more room to set my own rules than most people do. I know this. If I am disappointed in what some other person has said or done, that’s likely not a personal critique of them but more a function of the role they have. I might be harsh or critical, but do not assume I am writing with some sort of vengeance.</li>
<li>If I am writing something about a European cross border railway line, assume I have at least been there (you can check <a href="https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-all-the-borders_935041#6/51.014/2.000">borders I have been to here</a>, and <a href="https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/every-train-line-i-have-travelled_1102206#6/45.998/6.503">routes I have taken here</a>).</li>
<li>I write what I write – on jonworth.eu and crossborderrail.eu and any subdomains, on <a href="https://gruene.social/@jon">Mastodon</a>, <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/jonworth.eu">Bluesky</a> and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonworth/">Linkedin</a> – because I want to write it. No one has paid me for it, and I have no business relationship with anyone or anything cited, unless I say so.</li>
<li>I’ll link to as many sources as I possibly can, and will defer to others who know a topic better than I do. Assume that if I am writing something it is because I am not satisfied something similar has been written, or it has and I did not yet find it. Or simply I was intellectually curious and wanted to structure my thoughts.</li>
<li>I take the factual accuracy of what I write very seriously. But if the facts change, I will change my piece. However, given I have written more than 2000 blog posts on various sites, I cannot hope to keep everything up to date, all the time. Please check the time stamp of pieces.</li>
<li>If I post images, assume I know what is in them, and assume I took the photo unless stated otherwise. I do not steal photos, and take Creative Commons Licensing very seriously.</li>
<li>If you reply to me anywhere, assume you are replying to me. Do not reply “<em>ah but maybe your followers do not know this</em>” – if your point is for someone other than me, signal this.</li>
<li>I might be a UK-German dual national, but I deliberately stay out of UK railway discussions – others know UK rail much better than I do. The only UK rail issue I will touch is the Channel Tunnel.</li>
<li>Assume I will go as far as I can to follow all of the points above, but I am human – I make errors. If I don’t stick to any of the above tell me.</li>
</ol>
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