What Whatever's Site Disclaimer, Comment, Privacy, and "AI" Policy Covers

Updated

Whatever (whatever.scalzi.com) groups its site disclaimer, comment rules, privacy practices, and "AI" position into a single policy page, linked in the site menu as "Site Disclaimer, Comment, Privacy and 'AI' Policy." The page exists to set expectations before you comment or reuse content, but the menu link is all the public homepage evidence shows—the policy text itself is not reproduced there. To rely on any specific rule, open that page directly rather than inferring terms from the blog posts.

What the site structure tells you

The homepage menu lists the policy page alongside practical pages such as About, a biography of John Scalzi, books and projects, contact information, publicity and blurbing guidelines, scheduled appearances, and the Canonical Bacon Page. That grouping is the useful signal: Whatever treats commenting and content reuse as governed by stated terms, not informal convention.

Menu item What it signals for visitors
Site Disclaimer, Comment, Privacy and "AI" Policy Combined terms for participation, data handling, and AI-related use
Guidelines for Publicity, Blurbing, Unpublished Work... Separate rules for requests sent to the author
Contact Information Where to direct inquiries outside comment threads
About / Biography / Books Context on the site's author and purpose

What to check on the policy page

Because the homepage does not quote the policy, verify these points on the page itself before acting:

  • Commenting: whether comments are moderated, what content is removed, and whether a name or email is required to post. Posts show comment counts (for example, 22 comments on the October 24, 2026 coat post), so commenting is an active feature.
  • Privacy: what visitor data the site collects and how it is used. The homepage shows social sharing buttons for Bluesky, Threads, Mastodon, Facebook, Reddit, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Tumblr, WhatsApp, and email; check the policy for how those and any analytics are described.
  • AI: the site's stated position on AI-related use of its content. The heading "DIGITAL CONTENT FROM ANALOG PEOPLE" frames the blog's identity, but only the policy page states actual terms.
  • Disclaimer: the limits of what the site's content promises.

A practical example

Suppose you want to quote a post such as "The Big Idea: A. T. Sayre" in a newsletter, or you want to leave a comment on the MileHiCon coat post. The correct sequence is: open the policy page from the menu, read the comment and reuse sections, then act. If your question is about blurbs, interviews, or fan mail rather than comments, the separate publicity guidelines page is the relevant one—the policy page covers site participation and content use, not request handling.

Limits of this summary

No pricing, login requirement, or specific policy wording appears in the available homepage material, so none is asserted here. Treat the menu label as a pointer, not a summary of terms, and read the page before commenting or republishing.