Editorial03 Aug 2026

Editorial methods colophon

A working description of how the desk sources, edits and audits its editorial coverage.

Source tiers

The desk reads every Tier-1 source on the evidence register on weekday mornings, noting any change against the prior day. Tier-1 sources include publisher patch-notes pages, operator roster PDFs, operator stage cards and operator help pages. Tier-2 sources include trade-press desks, which are read for scene context but not for fact verification. Tier-3 sources include community reports and co-streams, which are cited as scene context only.

Editorial cycles

The desk follows three editorial cycles: a weekday-morning source-scan cycle for the dispatch queue, a weekday-afternoon narrative-edit cycle for the dossier and briefing pages, and a weekly cycle for the patch workshop. Each cycle has a defined input (which Tier-1 sources are read), a defined output (which page receives the edit) and a defined audit trail (which dispatch line the edit traces to).

Patch workshop three passes

The first pass reads the publisher's changelog in full. The second pass reads the operator's stage cards. The third pass reads the role notebook against the patch and the operator rules. Where the three passes disagree, the desk publishes the disagreement in the workshop right page rather than pick one side. Readers can see all three passes at the same time and decide which read they trust.

Corrections policy

A correction is a dated entry on the dispatch stream that names the entry being corrected and the source that triggered the correction. The desk does not silent-edit. Reader-filed corrections are accepted at [email protected] and verified against the desk's tier rules within 24 hours.

Commercial disclosure

The desk's commercial disclosure at /disclosure/ names the operator relationship the desk has, which is limited to the disclosed first-party route on the mobile sticky CTA and the route-checkpoint card. The desk does not accept payment in exchange for editorial coverage or editorial silence.

Image provenance

Photography on the site uses MiniMax image-01 generation under the editorial brief described at /about/. No human likenesses, team crests, sponsor marks or fabricated UI overlays are produced. The MiniMax-generated assets are published to descriptive SEO-clean paths under /assets/img/; the image provenance is recorded in the control room manifest.

Reader depth

Reading the methods colophon the way the desk writes it

Three habits the desk follows when reading the methods colophon against the editorial cycle.

The first habit is to keep the colophon's editorial-cycle description short. The desk follows three editorial cycles: a weekday-morning source-scan cycle for the dispatch queue, a weekday-afternoon narrative-edit cycle for the dossier and briefing pages, and a weekly cycle for the patch workshop. Each cycle has a defined input, output and audit trail. The colophon is short enough to fit in a single browser tab.

The second habit is to publish the colophon in plain language. The desk does not publish a methods document in legalese or in jargon. The colophon describes what the desk does on a weekday, on a Wednesday, on the patch publication day, in plain language a reader who has never worked in journalism can follow. Where jargon is required to make the description accurate, the jargon is defined in line.

The third habit is to update the colophon when the editorial cycle changes. Where the desk adds a fourth cycle, the colophon is updated. Where the desk drops a cycle, the colophon is updated. Where the desk changes the cadence of an existing cycle, the colophon is updated. The update is dated on the colophon itself so a reader can audit the desk's editorial hygiene against the public colophon in under five minutes.

Where the desk diverges from coverage that mirrors trade-press reads is on the methods-cadence discipline. Trade press will sometimes publish a methods document in language the desk cannot verify without industry context. The desk does not. The desk writes the colophon in language a reader who has never worked in journalism can follow, and the desk dates every update so the reader can audit the cadence.

The desk also treats the colophon as a working document. Rows move up the colophon-ladder as sources confirm; rows that fall off the publisher or operator page get removed, not retained as a footnote. The colophon is rebuilt from publisher and operator pages only. A row the desk kept for "tracking purposes" is a row the reader cannot verify, so the desk removes rather than retains. This is sometimes the slower choice; it is always the more honest choice.

Editorial cycle: weekday-morning source-scan, weekday-afternoon narrative-edit, weekly patch workshop. Verification timestamps on the dispatch stream.

Editorial working notes

How the desk reads this

A working description of the editorial cadence the desk follows on this route.

The colophon's source-tier description is built around three tiers, but the desk's editorial practice does not always fit cleanly into the tier vocabulary. Where a source is partially Tier-1 and partially Tier-2, the desk treats the source as Tier-1 only on the topics the source publishes Tier-1-grade material, and Tier-2 on the topics the source publishes Tier-2-grade material. The granular tier labelling is published on the evidence register where relevant.

The colophon's three editorial cycles are described on the colophon itself, but the cycles' cadence is described in greater detail on the /methods/ route. The /methods/ route is the working document; the colophon is the summary. Where the cadence changes, the /methods/ route is updated; the colophon is updated only if the change affects the colophon's summary language.

Where the colophon diverges from coverage that mirrors trade-press reads. Trade press will sometimes publish a colophon that does not name the cadence or the tier rules. The desk does not. The colophon names the cadence and the tier rules; the colophon is dated so a reader can audit the editorial hygiene against the public colophon.

What the colophon is not. The colophon is not a style guide, not an editorial philosophy document, not a press kit, not a media kit. The colophon is a description of the desk's editorial cycles and the sources the desk reads. Where the desk publishes a style guide or a philosophy document, the document is on a separate page; the colophon is the working description of the editorial cycles.

Where the colophon publishes the image-provenance section. The image-provenance section describes the MiniMax image-01 generation pipeline the desk uses for editorial photography, with a note on what the desk does not generate (likenesses, sponsor marks, fabricated UI overlays). The image-provenance section is a working document; where the desk changes the pipeline, the colophon is updated with the new pipeline.

Worked example

How the cycle reads in practice

A worked trace of the editorial cycle on this page.

A worked example of the weekday-morning cycle in practice. The desk reads the publisher patch-notes page at 09:14 UTC. The publisher added a footnote on utility handling; the desk re-reads the page at 10:42 UTC and confirms the footnote is a routine clarification. The desk publishes a dispatch line on the dispatch stream with the verification timestamps logged. The weekday-morning cycle is complete when the dispatch line is published.

Where the colophon covers a worked weekday-afternoon cycle in practice. The desk reads the dispatch line from the morning cycle and revises the dossier, briefing queue and patch workshop pages against the dispatch line. The revision is dated on the source-ribbon metadata at the top of each page. The weekday-afternoon cycle is complete when the revisions are dated.

Where the colophon covers a worked weekly cycle in practice. The desk reads the publisher changelog in full on the patch publication day. The desk transcribes the changelog rows into the patch workshop left page and notes any items the changelog omits. The desk then reads the operator stage cards one stage at a time and publishes a follow-up dispatch if the operator stage cards change.

Where the colophon covers a worked image-provenance section. The desk uses MiniMax image-01 generation for editorial photography. The generation pipeline is published on the image-provenance section; the desk does not generate likenesses, sponsor marks or fabricated UI overlays. The pipeline is reviewed at the end of each calendar month against the corrections register.

Where the colophon covers what the colophon is not. The colophon is not a style guide, not an editorial philosophy document, not a press kit, not a media kit. The colophon is a description of the desk's editorial cycles and the sources the desk reads. Where the desk publishes a style guide or a philosophy document, the document is on a separate page; the colophon is the working description.