What we ask, and what you can expect.
The short version: this is a free, independent journal. Read it, listen to it, share the link with whoever you like. The writing stays ours, it is meant to inform rather than instruct, and we offer it in good faith. There is nothing to pay, and nothing to sign.
What this is
SmarterArticles.fm is a free weekly bulletin — the audio edition of an independent journal — together with the articles behind it and a podcast feed you can follow in any app you like. Anyone may read and listen. The only thing you can sign up for is the Monday bulletin, and the only thing that takes is an email address, given and confirmed by you. There are no accounts, no paywalls, and nothing to buy.
Using it fairly
You are welcome to read, to listen, and to pass the link to anyone you think would enjoy it. We ask only that you do not try to break the place: no scraping the site wholesale, no hammering it with automated requests, and no misusing the subscribe form to sign up addresses that are not yours. The form is rate-limited to keep that sort of thing in check, as the privacy notice explains. Use the journal as a reader would, and you will never run into any of this.
The writing is ours
Everything here — the articles, the bulletins, the audio — is the journal’s own work, and it stays the journal’s. By all means quote a line or two with a credit and a link back; that is how writing travels, and we are glad of it. But please ask first before you reproduce a whole piece, republish it elsewhere, or put it to commercial use. A short note to contact@smarterarticles.fm usually gets a yes.
Offered in good faith
This is a small, independent publication, sent out freely and in good faith. We take real care over what we publish, and when we get something wrong we say so plainly, on the Corrections page. We cannot promise the site will never be down, or that every word will be flawless. And the writing here is meant to inform you and to make you think — not to tell you what to do. Read it, weigh it, and make up your own mind. We cannot answer for the choices you make afterwards, but we would far rather you trusted the journal because it has earned your trust than because a line in here insisted on it.
Listening in another app
As well as here, the bulletin is published as a podcast feed, so you can listen in whatever app you prefer. Those apps are independent services, run by other people to their own standards, and we cannot take responsibility for the behaviour of other platforms.
If these terms change
If these terms change in any material way, the change will be made here and the date below updated. Carrying on with the site after that is how you accept the revised terms. This page was last updated on 29 May 2026.
The law it sits under
The journal is run from the United Kingdom, and these terms are governed by the law of England and Wales. If a disagreement ever arises that a friendly email cannot settle, it is the courts of England and Wales that would decide it.
Getting in touch
Questions about any of this — or about reproducing something — are welcome at contact@smarterarticles.fm. As with everything here, replies are written by hand and may take a fortnight.
