How to judge someone fairly
Name the domain, say what you are deciding with it, then count the evidence that actually arrives.
Then one message a day on WhatsApp, ten minutes, for a week. Free.
- No account, no card
- Free week, then $199 once
- Private by design
What one week leaves you: a log, in your words.
The short answer
How do I know if my opinion of someone is fair
Ask it three quick questions and count what comes back. About what: is the opinion about one thing they do, or about the whole person? "She's flaky" is a verdict; "she's been late to three of the last four Tuesday meetings" is an opinion about a domain. For what: what are you deciding with it? An opinion you're not using for anything is just a label you're carrying. On what: name the last three things you actually saw them do, exact words and actions, that earned it. If three come easily, you're holding something fair, and you could say it to their face. If what comes instead is one meeting from two years ago, or "everyone knows," or "you'd have to meet him," then you're not holding an opinion. You're holding a verdict that closed its file a long time ago, and everything they've done since has gone unread.
Sound familiar?
Tick the ones that are you.
Two or more and the week is worth ten minutes. Nothing you tick is stored.
I called her flaky for three years on the strength of two Tuesdays.
Before I say what someone is, I say what I've seen.
- Relationships
- Health
- Wealth
- Happiness
- Career
How it works
Ten minutes a day. Nothing to track.
- 1
Day 1 · In your browser
One short story, three questions. Ten minutes, no account.
- 2
Days 2 to 6 · On WhatsApp
One message a day. Reply in a word, or "not today".
- 3
Day 7 · Your log seals
What you saw, what it cost, what you chose.
You might recognise this
Eitan has passed Kavya over twice, and both times it felt like judgement rather than a decision.Read the story
Eitan has passed Kavya over twice, and both times it felt like judgement rather than a decision. She is good, everyone says so, but she does not come across as senior. In the calibration meeting, Zofia asks the question nobody has asked before: "What specifically?" Eitan opens his mouth and hears what comes out. "She just doesn't land as senior in the room."
He tries again and arrives at a client review eighteen months ago, where Kavya deferred to him on a question she could have answered. He can feel how thin it sounds out loud, and the strange part is that it never sounded thin in his head; in his head it sounded like knowing her. That evening he pulls the quarter. Three initiatives with Kavya's name at the top. A vendor negotiation she closed alone. All of it in front of him, none of it in the file.
From The Grounded Opinion.
The turn
The trouble is that the two feel identical from inside. A verdict doesn't announce itself as an unchecked judgement; it sits in your mind next to the person's height, in the same font, and because it feels like perception it never comes up for review.
Keep reading
So it collects confirmation instead of evidence, and gets better proven every year without admitting a single new fact.
Why it is called Keel
The part of the boat you never see.
A keel sits under the waterline. Nobody admires it from the dock. But when the wind hits, it is the reason a boat stays upright and holds its course instead of going wherever it is pushed.
What it costs
A week free. Then one payment.
- Ten minutes in your browser
- Six days on WhatsApp
- Your first log, sealed
- Ten more patterns, one a week
- The coach on WhatsApp, every day
- Nothing renews
Parts Two to Four are $199 each, and each one opens when you finish the part before. Finish any part and Practice is $20 a month: the coach and spaced repetition over what you have already done. It does not unlock a new part.
What you can count on
Four promises, kept by how it is built.
Private by design
Nobody reads your logs. A partner you invite sees only which week you are on.
Nothing renews
Part One is one payment. No subscription, no auto-renew, no countdown.
Honest about what it is not
Not therapy. If what comes up is more than a pattern, Keel points you to real help.
Built on published work
94 sources, from Heidegger to Frankl. The whole bibliography is public.
One question a day, and your own words back. No feed, no streak, no leaderboard. I answer every message and take the first ten team calls myself. If session one shows you nothing true in ten minutes, close the tab; it kept nothing.
Krish, founder
How do I know whether my opinion of someone is fair?
Ask it three quick questions and count what comes back. About what: one thing they do, or the whole person? For what: what are you deciding with it? On what: name the last three things you actually saw them do, exact words and actions. If three come easily, you are holding something you could say to their face. If what comes is everyone knows, you are holding something else.
What is the difference between an opinion and a verdict?
An opinion is about a domain, held for a purpose you can say, resting on things the camera caught, and it stays open to what cuts against it. A verdict presents as a property of the person, the way height is, so it never comes up for review. It also filters: the three times she was early register as exceptions rather than evidence, and exceptions never accumulate.
Can an opinion I have held for years actually change?
It can, though six years of holding one is not six years of checking it, and the year it was formed is usually the last year it was looked at. Pull the recent record and read it cold, without the old heading over the top of it. It is startling how often someone appears to change the week you stop filing their actions under a category they were never told about.
The weeks this one calls back to
Ten minutes, no account, and you will have your own version of this named.
Then one message a day on WhatsApp, ten minutes, for a week. Free.