Contact Rational Survivor

How to Reach Us

Email is the only channel we monitor for editorial matters. Send everything to hello@rationalsurvivors.com.

We do not publish a phone number or a postal address. Preparedness advice is not something to improvise over a phone call, and a written thread gives both of us a record of what was claimed, what was corrected and when — which is the point of the whole project. If a request genuinely requires a postal address (a legal notice, a physical product sample), ask by email and we will supply the appropriate details for that specific case.

To get a useful reply first time, include:

The page URL you are writing about, not just the article title
The exact sentence or figure in question, quoted
Your evidence or source, with a link, page number or document name where one exists
Your country or region if the answer depends on climate, regulation or utility infrastructure
A deadline, if you have one — press and manufacturers should say so in the first line

Corrections and Factual Challenges

Corrections take priority over every other message in the inbox. If a number, a citation, a dosage, a shelf life, a treatment ratio or a piece of technique on this site is wrong, tell us and we will fix it.

The strongest corrections point at something specific: a superseded agency guideline, a manufacturer specification that contradicts ours, a lab or field result we misread, or arithmetic that does not survive a second pass. "This seems wrong" is still worth sending — we would rather re-check a paragraph unnecessarily than leave a bad figure standing — but a source shortens the process considerably.

We also want to hear when a method failed for you in the field. If a fire lay, a filter, a stove or a storage method behaved differently in your conditions than in ours, that is data. Tell us the temperature, the humidity, the water source, the fuel, the duration and the exact model, and it may change the guide or earn its own tested note.

What we cannot act on is a correction with no substance behind it: a claim that contradicts a cited source without offering a better one, or a demand to remove an unfavourable test result. Read our editorial standards and how we test before writing if you want to know what standard we are holding ourselves to.

Our Correction Policy, in Short

When a correction lands, we do four things:

Check it against the primary source, not against our own previous article. If the underlying guideline, specification or measurement has changed, the guideline wins.
Fix the page rather than quietly delete it. Amended text is corrected in place and the page carries a dated note describing what changed.
Say when the change alters the advice. If a corrected figure means a reader following the old version would have stored too little water, dosed a treatment wrongly or trusted a piece of gear further than it deserved, the note says so plainly instead of calling it a typo.
Credit the reader who caught it, by name or initials, if you are happy to be credited. Say in your email whether you want that.

Typographical slips are fixed silently. Anything touching a number, a source, a safety instruction or a recommendation is logged on the page.

Gear Testing Requests, Brands and PR

We test gear over months, in weather, and we write down what broke. Manufacturers, distributors and agencies are welcome to get in touch on that basis — and only on that basis.

What is useful to send:

The product, its specifications, and what problem the maker believes it solves better than the incumbent
Honest limits: rated temperature range, duty cycle, flow rate, service intervals, known failure modes
Whether a long-term loan or sample is available, and for how long

How we handle it:

Samples are accepted for testing, not in exchange for coverage. Receiving a product guarantees nothing — not a review, not a publication date, not a rating.
We do not accept payment for reviews, rankings, placement in a buying guide, or the removal of a negative finding.
Sponsored posts and paid guest links are declined. Please do not send rate cards.
Where a link earns commission, it is disclosed. Our affiliate disclosure explains exactly how that works and what it does not influence.
Test conditions, sample size and duration are published with the result, including when the sample size is one. If something failed, the failure is in the article.

Embargoed briefings are fine; say "embargo" and the release date in the subject line. Unsolicited physical samples sent without an email exchange first may not be tested, and we cannot return them.

Expert Contributions

We are interested in hearing from people whose day-to-day work produces evidence we cannot generate ourselves: wilderness and pre-hospital medicine, search and rescue, emergency management, water treatment and public health, food science and preservation, meteorology, utilities and backup power, and instructors who teach these skills to civilians.

If you want to contribute, pitch with:

The specific claim or question you want to address, in one or two sentences
The basis for your answer — your role, the literature, or the cases and conditions you have seen
Any qualifications, licences or affiliations you hold, so they can be stated accurately on the page
Any commercial interest in the subject, including if you sell training or products in that category

Contributions are edited, fact-checked and attributed. We verify credentials before publishing them, and we will not describe anyone as an expert in a field they do not work in. If a piece leans on your professional judgement rather than a published source, the article will say that, because a reader deserves to know which is which.

Generic guest-post pitches, AI-drafted articles and link-building outreach are deleted without a reply. Our about page explains the standard a piece has to meet before it appears on rationalsurvivor.com.

Press and Republishing

Journalists and producers are welcome to quote our testing, our figures and our sourcing. Mark the subject line "Press" and include your outlet, the angle and your deadline, and we will do our best to meet it.

We can usually help with:

Background on household preparedness, water storage, backup power and kit assembly, including what the underlying agency guidance actually says
The methodology and raw conditions behind any test we have published
Comment on preparedness marketing claims — particularly where a product is sold on fear rather than performance

Short quotations with a link back to the original page are fine without asking. Republishing a full article, syndicating a guide or using our photography requires written permission first. We will not supply a quote in support of a product, a brand or a campaign, and we do not take part in paid commentary.

Reader Questions

You can write with a question about your own setup, and many of them shape what we publish next. Give us the constraints and the answer gets more useful: your climate, your household size, whether anyone depends on refrigerated medication or powered equipment, your water source, your heating fuel, and what you already own.

Two honest limits:

We are a publication, not your doctor, your electrician or your local emergency management office. We do not give individual medical, legal or engineering advice, and nothing we send you replaces hands-on training or a licensed professional. See the disclaimer.
This inbox is not an emergency service. If you are in immediate danger, call your local emergency number. For active weather and hazards, follow the National Weather Service and your local authorities, not a website.

If a question comes up repeatedly, we usually answer it properly in a guide rather than only in a reply — so a question you thought was too basic to ask may be the most useful message we get that month.

Response Times

Realistic expectations, not marketing ones:

Corrections and safety issues: looked at within one to two working days. If the fix requires re-checking a source or re-running a test, the page is updated as soon as we have an answer, and we will tell you it is in progress rather than leave you waiting in silence.
Reader questions: usually within five working days.
Brand, PR and contribution pitches: replied to when we intend to take them further. If you have not heard back within two weeks, treat it as a no — we would rather say nothing than send a form rejection that pretends to be personal.
Press with a stated deadline: we prioritise by the deadline you give us, so put it in the first line.

Field testing takes us out of contact for stretches at a time, which is the nature of the work. Nothing is lost; it may simply wait a few days.

Privacy, Data and Legal

For privacy requests — access to the data we hold about you, deletion, or a question about how the site uses analytics and cookies — write to privacy@rationalsurvivors.com, or use the main address and put "Privacy" in the subject line. Our privacy policy sets out what is collected and why.

We use email addresses for the correspondence you started and for a newsletter only if you asked for one. We do not sell reader data, and we do not pass your address to the brands whose gear we test.

For copyright, trademark or other legal notices, email the main address with "Legal" in the subject line and full details of the claim, including the URL and the material in question, and we will respond in writing.

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