[cube00]

> I don't think so, but the whole point of "subconsciously" is you don't know for sure.

I provide ad-hoc consulting and training services to a number of different companies and organizations. If any of those represent a conflict of interest with my writing here I will disclose that in the relevant post. [1]

"you don't know for sure" is why you shouldn't be your own arbiter of what represents a conflict of interest.

[1]: https://simonwillison.net/about/#disclosures

[simonw]

Sorry, I don't understand the point you're making here. Could you clarify?

[cube00]

Ideally it would follow the same model as politicians. All entities you receive payment from over a threshold amount from would be published so it's up to the public to decide if a conflict of interest exists.

Under the current approach you could be subconsciously influenced by a consulting experience and not realise it when you write an indirectly related post.

You could reasonably argue you shouldn't be held to such a high standard, which is fine, you're not in public office.

However readers need to be clear they are entirely relying on you to self assess your own conflict of interest which can be challenging because "the whole point of "subconsciously" is you don't know for sure"

[simonw]

Yeah, that's fair.

I hope to earn enough trust from my long-term readers that "I'll let you know if o have a conflict of interest" is good enough for them.

I write about contentious topics, so some people will never be satisfied that I'm not a paid shill of some kind. It gets to me because I value my credibility so much, but eventually I just need to accept that some people won't ever trust me and there's nothing I can do to win them over.