Five reasons people pick PepPick, plus a short list of things we refused to build. Readers first, because a pick nobody can read is not much of a pick.
Reading costs nothing
Not money, not an account, not a fight with the page.
Open to everyone
Every published pick can be read by anyone. You never sign up, and there is nothing to dismiss before the words show up.
Fast on a bad connection
Pages are plain HTML and CSS rendered on the server, so they open quickly and sit comfortably on a phone.
Feeds, the old-fashioned way
Subscribe to the whole site at
/feed.xml, or to single writers through the feed each blog carries.
A corner with your name on it
Invited writers get a real blog, not a slot in somebody else’s stream.
Your own address
Your picks live at
/your-handle/, next to a profile with your portrait, a short bio and an optional link out to your website.A start-here note
Pin an introduction to the top of your blog: what you cover, where newcomers should begin, which picks you would defend to the end.
Shelves you name
Group your picks into categories of your choosing. Every category gets a page, so readers can stick to the shelf they came for.
A feed of your own
Readers can follow just you at
/your-handle/feed.xml, in whatever feed app they already use.
Long picks, handled
Ranked lists and buying guides run long. The layout expects that.
Auto contents
Long posts get a table of contents built from their headings, so a reader can skip straight to number seven.
Cover optional
Add a cover image if you have a good one. No cover? The post gets a bold, type-led header rather than a blank box.
Images that stay put
Images in your posts are stored on PepPick itself, so they do not break when some outside host reshuffles its links.
Accents intact
Vietnamese and other accented scripts render cleanly in headlines, posts and comments alike.
Picks that find each other
Good recommendations point somewhere. Ours point both ways.
Shared topic pages
Tag a post and it lands on a topic page alongside related picks from other PepPick writers.
Normal links
Cite your sources, link the thing you recommend, link your own site. Links in posts are just links.
Comments that earn their spot
Anyone can chime in. A moderator decides what goes live.
Just a name
Readers reply with a name and a comment. No account, and no email address asked for.
Checked before posting
Every guest comment waits for a moderator. Any comment still unapproved after 30 days is cleared out for good.
Four things we skipped on purpose
You will notice them by their absence.
- Ads. The pick is the only thing on the page asking for your attention.
- Analytics and tracking pixels. We do not count, profile or follow readers.
- Outside scripts. The only script on a page is the site’s own, and it is small.
- Reader cookies. The single cookie we set belongs to administrators, and only once they sign in.
Want a blog? It starts with an invite
We do not run an open sign-up page. If you are invited, what you write stays yours, and you can have it taken down whenever you like.