The player role notebook describes what each role is asked to do on a stage card

The desk treats role attribution as a sourced category, not as editorial commentary. If the operator page says role X is fielded on stage, the desk reflects that. If the operator page is silent on role, the desk stays quiet too. The desk does not invent a role label to make the dossier page read more cleanly.

This is a slow editorial standard. Role attribution is the area where reader expectations outpace the operator's publishing cycle. The desk prefers to wait rather than fill the gap with a guess that becomes a correction two weeks later. The corrections policy on the corrections register lists every role-attribution guess the desk has had to retract.

Why the desk does not use trade-press role reads

Trade press is useful for scene context but not for role attribution. The desk reads trade press for what specialists are saying, how the qualifier feels, what fans expect. Trade press often attributes roles to individuals the operator pages have not published — those reads are scene context, not roster attribution.

The desk's policy: a role attribution cannot be published on the player route until both the roster PDF and the operator page agree. Trade press can be cited as the source of the read, but the role label on the player route and on the dossier mirror the operator's wording. This keeps role attribution editable on a known cadence rather than on reader complaint.

How role attribution updates on the page

When the operator updates a roster, the desk updates the dossier and the player route in the next editorial cycle. The update is dated on the source-date row of the corridor entry so readers can see when the desk last verified the role assignment. The operator pages are read on weekday mornings; that schedule drives the player route's refresh cadence.

The first habit is to read the role notebook against the role responsibilities the operator publishes. The operator publishes the role labels for stage cards and lists which roles are in scope for the current format patch. The desk reads those labels and reflects them in the role notebook, even if the trade press thinks the operator uses a different vocabulary. The role notebook is built from operator pages only.

The second habit is to list the observable signals the desk tracks per role. The role notebook lists four observable signals per role: composition reading, information flow, round timing and map control for the caller; opening duels, multi-kill rounds, clutch rounds and positioning for the carry; utility supply, trade timing, site anchors and information economy for the support; flex draft, map pool, matchup prep and pressure response for the specialist. The signals are observable on the operator match page.

The third habit is to keep the role notebook's job descriptions short by design. The desk's role descriptions are short enough that a reader can re-read a role in under a minute. The role notebook is built to be skimmed, not memorised. The desk does not write long prose for any role, even if the role is more complex than the four-signal default. Where the role is genuinely more complex, the desk links out to the patch workshop rather than expand the role into a separate article.

Where the desk diverges from coverage that mirrors trade-press reads is on the role-attribution discipline. Trade press will sometimes attribute a role to an individual on the basis of one named source. The desk does not. The desk waits for the publisher roster PDF and the operator match page to agree on the role assignment, even if the trade press is widely read and broadly credible. The discipline is sometimes slower; it is always more honest.

The desk also treats the role notebook as a working document. Roles move up the description ladder as sources confirm; roles that fall off the operator page get removed, not retained as a footnote. The notebook is rebuilt from operator pages only. A role the desk kept for "tracking purposes" is a role 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.