The Protocolist ---> Blundercheck

Warning: Fresh Paint

Just a quick note that this publication has a new name: Blundercheck. No change to content or infrastructure, just a fresh set of paint. Normally I’m quick to find a great name for something﹣I’ve even been paid to name cocktails﹣but this time it took me a while. I changed the name for two reasons:

First, very soon, Summer of Protocols will relaunch its year-round publication, Protocolized. here, on Substack. I’m heavily involved with Protocolized as an editor so it seemed prudent to avoid unnecessary mixups with my personal ‘schtack, The Protocolist.

Second, I write about quite a bit more than protocols. The name needed to jive with the battery of interrelated things I write about: safety, technology, protocol theory, competition, games, the outdoors, forestry. Took me a couple months and cost me the patience of my friends and family, but I finally settled on Blundercheck.

A blundercheck is the mental checklist that chess players go through before committing to a move. It’s not a protocol for finding the best move. It’s just to avoid obvious disasters like hanging your queen. A well-designed blundercheck is what sets relatively strong amateurs apart from the noobs. You prune off probabilistically bad ideas, sometimes called “branches” in chess, to transform risk into a managed factor. Creative energy should be invested into branches with interesting, high-upside potential.

Useful procedural concepts like these are everywhere and I think they’re highly underrated. So, stay tuned for more in that vein. And thanks again for reading!