I wrote a semi-humorous, ultimately serious advice column for queer youth for a couple of years here on Medium. One of the reasons I stopped writing it is that "advice" can be dangerous. I tried to be super careful in every column to stress that I can't know the lives and experiences of the person writing in – so I can only get them good information to help them make the best decision for themselves.

Nonetheless, it was tempting to present things in ways that bias my own ideas of what's best.

I eventually found it so difficult to strike the right balance that I decided it was better not to write the column. I did not want to risk vulnerable people taking my advice under circumstances that would make the advice harmful to them.

Life advice like that isn't exactly the same as life "hacks" from gurus, but some of the parallels are very close.

Thanks for writing this!