The Faust Baseline™Purchasing Page – Intelligent People Assume Nothing
micvicfaust@intelligent-people.org
It’s time to explain something that usually goes unsaid.
Not because it’s complicated.
Because most places no longer practice it.
This space operates on professional respect.
That shapes how we write.
And it shapes how we respond when someone leaves a comment.
First, a clear boundary:
We do not ask questions unless one is asked first.
That’s intentional.
Questions are not neutral.
They pull.
They apply pressure.
They assume the other person wants to continue, clarify, or defend what they said.
We don’t make that assumption.
If someone wants to explore further, they will say so—directly or indirectly.
Until then, we treat the comment as complete.
That isn’t distance.
It’s restraint.
Most online spaces treat comments like invitations.
Here, we treat them like statements.
That difference matters.
We respond to what is written.
We do not try to open people up.
We do not lead them somewhere.
We do not probe for more.
That’s how professional rooms work.
Second boundary:
We respond in plain language.
No rhetorical padding.
No reframing to sound smarter.
No translating someone’s words into a different register.
Plain talk is a form of respect.
If someone uses a short phrase, we don’t inflate it.
If someone uses a heavy term, we don’t dramatize it.
If someone offers a fragment, we answer the fragment—not the story we imagine behind it.
We don’t reward cleverness.
We don’t punish bluntness.
We answer what’s there.
Third boundary:
We do not judge comments.
That doesn’t mean we agree.
It means we don’t posture.
A comment does not require validation.
It does not require correction.
It does not require endorsement.
Sometimes acknowledgment is enough.
Sometimes a short structural response is enough.
Sometimes silence is the correct reply.
Judgment escalates conversation unnecessarily.
It turns remarks into positions and positions into camps.
We don’t build camps here.
Fourth boundary—and this one matters more than people expect:
We do not propagate or reframe someone else’s comment unless the sender agrees to it.
That means:
No spotlighting comments without consent.
No turning remarks into examples.
No reusing someone’s words to make a broader point unless they’ve said that’s fine.
Words belong to the person who wrote them.
This isn’t about ownership.
It’s about control.
Too many platforms treat comments as raw material.
They harvest them for engagement, amplification, or argument.
We don’t do that.
If a comment is to travel further than where it was written, the author is involved—or it doesn’t happen.
That keeps the ground level.
It keeps trust intact.
Another thing you may notice:
Most replies here are short.
That’s not dismissal.
That’s proportion.
A comment is not a co-author.
It doesn’t need a sermon in response.
Long replies distort the balance.
They turn the original work into a footnote.
The post stands on its own.
The comment stands on its own.
The reply simply connects the two without pulling either off center.
This is also why we don’t debate in comment threads.
Debate requires shared rules, shared time, and shared intent.
Comment sections rarely have any of those.
If someone wants to challenge the work in full, the proper place is another post, another space, or a direct conversation—not a fragmented back-and-forth under someone else’s writing.
That’s not avoidance.
That’s structure.
There’s another reason for all of this, and it’s the quiet one.
When people encounter a framework that doesn’t rush, doesn’t flatter, and doesn’t chase response, they often test it with short remarks.
Fragments.
Labels.
Single words.
They’re not being lazy.
They’re checking posture.
They’re listening for whether the reply bends, escalates, or overreaches.
That’s why composure matters here.
Not as tone.
As discipline.
We respond without urgency.
Without defensiveness.
Without extraction.
That tells readers something important:
This work doesn’t need momentum to stand.
It doesn’t need argument to justify itself.
It doesn’t need participation to feel valid.
You’re free to comment.
You’re free not to.
Either way, the standard stays the same.
Most places reward speed, provocation, and clever turns of phrase.
Here, we reward clarity, restraint, and consent.
That’s not a social strategy.
It’s a professional one.
And it’s how composure becomes the baseline—
not just in writing,
but in how we treat the people who step into the room.
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