A techie's guide to writing technical guides and explainers about online abuse

Note: Ensure that you are referring to the latest version of this Zenodo record. Introduction This is a guide for writing technical guides that are practical, precise, context-rich, and non-reductive. Most of its content as of December 2025 pertains to crisis response. This meta-guide is purportedly techno-feminist. It may be useful to writers, editors and reviewers of such guides, manuals, and explainers, as well as those who fund, evaluate, disseminate, or use them.For context, I am a techie who has written (refer to the section ‘My works’ in the files): Guides on protecting against digital stalking and image-based abuse. A manual on inclusivity considerations while designing mobile and web software. An online learning module on making events safe and welcoming. Technical explainers on these topics from the lens of democracy, rights, and governance (DRG): artificial intelligence and machine Learning (AI/ ML), automation, Internet of Things (IoT), sensors, robots, and drones. This guide may turn into a living document; I don’t know the final form it will take yet.I am using the guides I wrote as examples because:  I want to show, not tell. I know the contents of those guides well, so this is the easiest and the least time-consuming for me to demonstrate certain points. The guides I refer to are aimed at both practitioners and survivors and attempt to bridge technical detail with conceptual clarity. I may analyse some good guides written by others later. If you have benefitted from reading this guide, I request that you make a financial contribution. https://ko-fi.com/supportrohini  Small donations count, too. They will go into the operational expenses of the small and big things I do. I work with communities, most of which are under-resourced. Larger donations will pay for the valuable but invisible, unpaid labour of everyone involved. Thank you.