Most recommendations are wrong

Tunnel Outline exists for one reason:

To reduce bad buying decisions.

Not by giving you more options — but by showing you why most advice you find online is distorted, incomplete, or incentives-driven.

If you’re here looking for “the best” product, you may be disappointed.

If you’re here to think more clearly before buying anything, you’re in the right place.

Why this site exists

Most recommendation content on the internet is built around the same structure:

“Best overall”
“Best value”
“Best for beginners”

Those lists aren’t designed to help you decide.

They’re designed to:

rank in search engines
maximize affiliate clicks
avoid saying “don’t buy”

The result is predictable: too many products, too little judgment, and regret after the purchase.

Tunnel Outline exists to push back against that.

The Tunnel Outline approach

We start from a different place.

Instead of asking “What should I buy?” we ask:

Why do people buy this in the first place?
Where does common advice go wrong?
Who is this actually bad for?
What constraints make this a good idea — and when do they not apply?

Often, the best answer is:

Don’t buy anything yet.

Sometimes it’s:

Buy less than you think.

And occasionally:

Only buy this if you accept the tradeoffs.

We consider that success.

What you will — and won’t — find here

You will find:

Decision frameworks instead of rankings
Tradeoffs explained plainly
Real examples where popular advice fails
Clear statements about who something is not for

You will not find:

Top-10 lists
“Best overall” recommendations
Fake certainty
Content written to please algorithms or advertisers

Fewer recommendations means higher trust.

How to use Tunnel Outline

If you’re facing a buying decision:

Start with Why Most Recommendations Are Wrong to understand how advice gets distorted
Read How to Decide to clarify what actually matters in your situation
Check What Not to Buy to avoid common, expensive mistakes
Explore Case Outlines to see where popular advice breaks down in practice

If none of that leads to a confident decision, that’s a signal — not a failure.

Editorial independence

Tunnel Outline does not exist to sell you things.

When recommendations appear, they are:

rare
conditional
explicit about tradeoffs

Sometimes there is no good recommendation.

We will say so.

The goal

Every page on this site is judged by a single question:

Does this reduce the chance you regret a decision later?

If it doesn’t, it doesn’t belong here.

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