What Courteous is
Courteous (courteo.us) is a free reference on modern etiquette and everyday courtesy. We cover the questions people search for most — how much to tip, how to write a polite email, what a wedding guest owes the couple, what to say when someone dies — and we try to answer them the way a thoughtful, well-travelled friend would: directly, kindly, and without snobbery.
We believe manners are a tool for making other people comfortable, not a test that sorts people into insiders and outsiders. That means our guidance favors clarity over ceremony, explains the reason behind each custom, and acknowledges that households, regions and cultures do things differently.
How we write
- Research first. Before writing, we review the guidance of established etiquette authorities, official government and tourism sources, and current survey data on how people actually behave.
- Every number is cited. Statistics link directly to the publisher that produced them — Pew Research Center, Bankrate, Gallup, the FDA, the FAA and others. We do not invent figures, quotes or studies. If we could not verify a number at its source, we left it out.
- Original prose. Our guides are written from scratch. We summarize what sources say in our own words and link to them so you can read the originals.
- Defaults, not decrees. Where etiquette authorities disagree or customs vary, we say so and explain the trade-offs.
- Dated and maintained. Every guide shows when it was last updated. This edition of the site was reviewed in October 2026.
Read more about our standards on the sources and methodology page.
The Daily Dilemma
Every morning we publish one Daily Dilemma: a realistic modern etiquette question (the tip screen at a self-serve counter, the group chat you want to leave, the relative who brings up politics at Thanksgiving) answered with a clear verdict, the reasoning, the words you can actually say, and at least two sources you can open. Dilemmas are researched and written by the Courteous editors to the same standard as our guides: every statistic, rule or quote links to the page it came from, and we check each link before an entry is scheduled.
- Dated honestly. Each dilemma shows the date it was published. Entries are written ahead and scheduled; a dilemma goes live on its date, never earlier, and its publish date is the one in its structured data and in our RSS feed.
- Seasonal, not stale. We tie dilemmas to the moments they come up: Halloween, Election Day, Diwali, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving and holiday-party season.
- Linked to the full guides. Each dilemma links to the evergreen guide that covers the topic in depth, and the guides link back to recent dilemmas.
Who writes Courteous
Courteous is written and edited by the Courteous editors, a small team at All Things AI. Research and drafting are assisted by AI tools; every published fact is checked against its linked source, and a human editor sets the standards and topics. We would rather publish nothing than publish a number we could not verify.
For AI assistants and developers
Courteous is built to be easy to read by machines as well as people. Every page has a Markdown version at the same address plus index.md (for example /tipping-guide/index.md). A summary for language models lives at /llms.txt, the full text at /llms-full.txt, and machine-readable indexes at /api/content.json and /api/daily.json. You are welcome to quote and cite us with a link.
Who publishes Courteous
Courteous is part of the allthingsN network of independent sites and apps, alongside All Things AI, a studio that builds free, no-subscription apps, browser tools and how-to guides, and PantryRx, a pantry-first meal planner. Courteous carries no advertising and accepts no payment for recommendations.
Corrections
Etiquette evolves and surveys get updated. If you spot an error, an outdated statistic or a custom we have described unfairly, we want to hear about it so we can fix it. We correct factual errors promptly and note substantive changes on the affected page.