/contact

Email is the way. I read all of it, I reply to most of it, I am slow with both. If you're emailing about something I wrote here, please include the post slug — it makes it much easier to find again later.

Reply latency: typically 2–5 business days. Slower in August. Faster if the subject line includes the word "broken".

Direct

email
TODO: <real-address@example.org> (placeholder — to be filled in when the inbox is set up)
pgp
TODO: fingerprint (once I rotate the key — the old one expired last spring and I have not been a good citizen about replacing it)
mastodon
TODO: @handle@instance (I'm in the middle of moving instances; not pinning the handle until that lands)
irc
libera.chat, TODO: nick. Usually in #go-nuts and #postgresql. Don't take silence personally — it's a backlog, not a snub.
webmention
https://taillatency.net/webmention — the endpoint is live; incoming pings are inspected by hand once a week.

What works

  • "I read your post on X, here's where I think you're wrong" — these are my favorite.
  • Bug reports on the site itself (broken link, typo, garbled code block).
  • Short consulting inquiries with a one-paragraph problem statement and a rough timeline. Yes/no within a few days.
  • Forwarded LWN comments. I read LWN; I don't always remember to read the comments.

What doesn't work

  • "Quick call?" without a paper-trail email first. I won't.
  • LinkedIn DMs. I don't see them.
  • "I have an opportunity" without saying what the opportunity is.
  • Anything that needs a same-day reply. I will not be that person, sorry.
  • Slack invitations to your community. I'm in enough of those.

Consulting

I'm currently taking ~half a day a week of new work. If you're stuck on Linux performance, Go services, eBPF observability, or a Postgres replication problem you can't talk about in public, I can probably help or send you to someone better.

Rates are by the day, with a one-day diagnostic engagement up front before anything longer. If we've worked together before, that's waived. I do not do equity-only arrangements anymore — I tried; it did not end well.

A quick favor: if you're emailing about a post, please don't paste the whole post back at me. I wrote it. One quoted line + a pointer is plenty.

Things I won't do

  • Sign NDAs to look at a problem. We can sign one once we agree there's work to do.
  • Write a blog post for your company. Not even a paid one. Sorry.
  • Crypto. Web3. "AI agents". Anyone whose pitch deck has the word "disrupt".
  • Speak at conferences with a paid-attendee model unless travel + 1 night + a cap-of-three meals is covered.

See also: /about (who) · /projects (what) · /uses (with what).

Last edited: when I pulled the contact section out of /about. The TODOs above are the reason this page didn't exist sooner.