RulesOfThumb.org - Every Rule of Thumb on Earth

This site has been several years in the making and is based partly on my previously published books covering the same topic (see below.) The goal of the site is ambitious: to collect every rule of thumb on earth at one handy web address. The site is fully searchable with the backend machinery to let users rate new contributions in or out of the main db providing a Darwinian weeding mechanism which will let the content improve in value over time. The site tracks your success as a rater andor contributor and has the basic tagging features which will allow users to discover emergent categories (ala David Weinberger in Everything is Miscellaneous...) Rulesofthumb.org was released just three weeks ago and so far has nearly 1000 registered users who are actively rating, contributing and commenting new rules.

“A rule of thumb is a homemade recipe for making a guess. It is an easy-to-remember guide that falls somewhere between a mathematical formula and a shot in the dark. A farmer, for in­stance, knows to plant his corn when oak leaves are the size of squirrels' ears. An economics profes­sor knows from sad experience that inviting more than 25 percent of the guests for a univer­sity dinner party from the economics depart­ment ruins the conversation.”

These books were all wildly successful but all before the advent of the Internet. Rules of thumb are a kind of tool. They help you appraise a problem or situation. They make it easier to consider the subtleties of the topic at hand; they give you a feel for a subject.

How are they going to make a profit from the site, since there doesn’t appear to be any advertising?