My early writing was centered on independent digital publication and public scholarship. Serving as the founder and editor of a digital publication covering sociology, social psychology, and criminology, I sustained public engagement with social-scientific research concurrent with my graduate studies. Active from 2010 to 2014, the domain organically gained significant algorithmic authority, achieving a Google PageRank of 7 on the primary domain. At the time, Google ranked a website’s authority on a scale of 0-10 and a 7 was uncommon for a personal blog and more typical of a major university. During the time that it was active, the publication scaled to a daily readership of approximately 500, with peak traffic exceeding 2,000 daily visitors. Furthermore, the site accumulated 8,282 historic inbound links from 670 unique referring domains. Some of the content is preserved on the web.archive.org.
On a side note, I had numerous opportunities to monetize and place advertising on my site. At the time, I considered it unthinkable and perverse to write and maintain a website for the purpose of monetization.
Selected Publications
During this period, I researched and published trade journalism on deception, interviewing, security, and the application of social science to investigative practice. Select articles include:
The Huffington Post – “5 guidelines to catch a liar”
The Huffington Post – “4 reasons not to threaten friendships because of political differences”
The Huffington Post – “High school student allegedly punished for recording bullies: Why it’s wrong”
Pursuit Magazine – “How the social sciences can enrich the investigator’s toolkit”
Pursuit Magazine – “How to identify a white-collar psychopath”
Pursuit Magazine – “A primer on industrial espionage”
Pursuit Magazine – “Q&A: Lindsay Moran—A former CIA agent reflects on old school tradecraft in a high-tech world”
Pursuit Magazine – “Q&A: Lindsay Moran—A former CIA agent talks spycraft”
Pursuit Magazine – “Q&A: Lindsay Moran—A former CIA operative reveals why she became a spy”
The Intermission
In 2015 I stopped writing in the public domain. This hiatus was dictated by a transition into public service, specifically my tenure as an investigator, child sex abuse specialist and Family Case Manager for the Indiana Department of Child Services. The nature of conducting investigative interviews under conditions of high stakes and contested truth demanded rigorous discretion. My training for this position encouraged an intentionally covert presence within the local community, rendering a high-visibility public platform structurally incompatible with my professional obligations.
Private Creative Works
Parallel to public commentary and academic work, I have maintained a continuous creative writing practice for the majority of my adult life. This is mostly poetry and short stories. I consider this work deeply personal and have intentionally chosen to keep it unpublished. However, I will admit that I have pseudonymous work published in this area. Maybe someday, I’ll take credit for them, but today is not that day.