About Selfwrit

What it is, and what it isn't

Who made it

Selfwrit is made by Shane Bouel, an adoptee, researcher and the author behind Thoughtless Delineation, a publication on adoptee rights, identity erasure and accountability.

It exists because people who've been separated from their origins, or who live with family control, are often told their own account doesn't count. Selfwrit starts from the opposite position: you are the primary source of your own story.

How your privacy works

• No account. You never sign up, and there's no email or phone number to give.
• Your words stay on your device. Everything you write stays on the phone or computer you're using. Selfwrit holds none of it, unless you choose to share a single entry for research (see below).
• Locked with your passphrase. Your record is encrypted on your device with a passphrase only you know.
• No "forgot password". Because nobody else holds your passphrase, nobody can unlock your record for you, including the people who made Selfwrit. Keep your passphrase safe and save a backup now and then.
• No tracking. No analytics, no advertising, no cookies, and no third-party scripts or fonts.
• Your settings stay with you. Your language, country and which version you chose are stored on your device only.
• Export is always free. You can save an encrypted backup or a readable copy whenever you like.

If an optional AI feature is added in future, it will be off unless you turn it on, it will use your own key with the provider you choose, and this page will say exactly what is sent.

Sharing an entry for research (optional)

From any entry in your record you can choose to share that one entry, anonymously, to help research and advocacy. It's off unless you use it, and it's one entry at a time.

• You check it first. Emails, links, phone numbers, street addresses and exact dates are removed automatically, and possible names are highlighted for you to replace. You see exactly what will be sent before anything goes.
• What's stored. Your edited words, the kind of entry, the year, your language, and only if you choose: an age range, a broad part of the world and which version of Selfwrit you use. We keep the month it arrived, not the time.
• What's never stored. Your name, email, IP address, device details, exact dates, passphrase, files or photos, or anything else from your record.
• How it may be used. Advocacy for adoptees and families, improving Selfwrit, research and study, and building de-identified datasets, including for training AI language models. Short passages may be quoted, never with anything that could identify you.
• Who holds it. Thoughtless Delineation research (Shane Bouel), in a private database on Cloudflare. It is not sold.
• You can withdraw it. The entry on your device keeps a private key that lets you delete the shared copy at any time. Because nothing links it to you, it can't be found again if you delete the entry or lose the device first.
• Adults only. You need to be 18 or older to share.

Where the words come from

• The library comes from The Framework Canon. Where the canon says a claim is still being checked, Selfwrit shows that note.
• Several grounding exercises, the CLEAR method and the blame and accountability reflections come from The Sovereign Self, free to read at bouel.com.au.
• Some exercises are Selfwrit additions. They are marked as such and are being reviewed.
• Selfwrit comes in English and 12 other languages. The translations were made with AI help and are still being checked by native speakers. The library is in English for now.

Feedback

Selfwrit is in an early, invitation-only stage. If something felt wrong, confusing or distressing, or if something helped, Shane would like to hear it. Get in touch through bouel.com.au.

Please don't send anything you've written in Selfwrit unless you choose to share it.