WriteFreely was built with certain goals in mind.
WriteFreely was built for writers.
Unlike most successful blogging platforms, WriteFreely won't turn into a Content Management System (CMS). It was built to be focused on writing, has kept its focus for four years, and will stay that way into the future.
When considering new functionality and convenience features, everything is done through this lens. Features are only added if they generally improve the writing experience for a large amount of writers on the platform.
WriteFreely was built to make writing accessible to as many people as possible. While it is very accessible to tech-savvy power users, our priority is to always remain usable by the everyday, non-technical person.
WriteFreely was built to empower the people using it, instead of oppressing them. It gives you freedom from distractions and the freedom to be left alone. It doesn't require excessive personal information as a condition of use. It assumes that users want autonomy and the ability to make decisions for themselves. This is baked into every part of the product, from the end-user experience to the code itself.
User autonomy requires consent. WriteFreely was started on the principle of privacy by default (for one), meaning it doesn't divulge private information without a writer's explicit consent. In the same vein, it doesn't interrupt readers without them asking for it.