Editorial standards

Evidence, context, and corrections

The archive’s purpose is to make historical events understandable without turning uncertainty or suffering into spectacle. These standards guide what belongs in the published archive.

Start with evidence

Social posts, screenshots, and viral summaries can suggest a subject. They cannot establish the facts by themselves. Articles should draw on identifiable records, research, institutional histories, or reporting that readers can trace.

Primary sources include contemporary documents, court records, official investigations, and firsthand accounts. They can still be incomplete or self-serving. Institutional histories and academic work add interpretation; reporting and reference works provide context. Several websites repeating one account do not count as several independent confirmations.

Explain what the sources establish

Articles should add a useful chronology, historical context, an explanation of causes or consequences, or a comparison of competing accounts. A list of links or a rewritten discovery post is not enough. The supporting references identify the material used; their presence does not mean that every source supports every sentence.

Disputed numbers, uncertain dates, and gaps in the record should be stated in the text. Allegations must remain attributed. Scientific explanations should distinguish a proposed mechanism from a confirmed finding. Medical history describes past events, not treatment recommendations.

Use images and sensitive material with care

Images should help explain an event, place, person, or document. Contextual images must not be presented as photographs of the event itself. Image credits identify the source, creator, and reuse terms when an archive image is used.

Accounts of persecution and violence should focus on evidence and consequences. Avoid graphic detail that adds no explanatory value, and avoid presenting victims as curiosities. Sensitive articles can remain free of advertising.

Research and drafting tools

Awful Archive uses AI assistance in research, drafting, and editing. Generated text is not a source. Publication requires an editorial decision; adding a draft to the research collection does not automatically make it a published article.

Corrections and revisions

Readers can send a correction with an article link and supporting evidence. A factual correction should identify what changed and why on the article, with a revision date. Minor spelling and formatting changes do not need a new publication date.

If the central account cannot be supported, the article should be withdrawn while it is investigated. A historical event date is never used as an article’s publication or review date.