The Guide

The collections differ in subject but not in method. A single vocabulary means a reader can tell, at a glance and in any part of the site, whether what they are looking at is finished, provisional, superseded or withdrawn — and it means the record can be corrected without anything being destroyed.

• Draft. The record exists but is not part of the collection. It is visible to its author and to editorial staff only. Drafts may be revised freely and carry no implication of acceptance.
• Under Review. The record has been submitted and is being read. It remains private. A reviewer may welcome it, return it with notes, or decline it. A return is not a rejection; it is an invitation to refine.
• Published. The record is part of the collection: publicly listed, addressable, searchable, and eligible for Knowledge Graph relationships. Its author and publication date remain on it. It may still be revised; revisions are kept.
• Archived. The record has been withdrawn from public listings without being erased. Archiving is used for material that is superseded, no longer accurate, or withdrawn at the author's request. It remains available to editorial staff and can be restored.

Two markers sit alongside the four states rather than replacing them. Both point to another record of the same kind.

• Duplicate Of. The record describes the same subject as an existing record and was created in error or in ignorance of it. The canonical record is named; the duplicate is withdrawn from public listings.
• Merged Into. The record's content has been folded into another record, which now carries it. The surviving record is named; the merged record is withdrawn from public listings but retained for provenance.

A record is publicly visible only when it is Published and carries neither marker.

The Cellars prefers withdrawal to destruction. Archiving, marking a duplicate and recording a merge all preserve the original text, its authorship and its history, so that a later Archivist can reconstruct what was held and why it changed.

Authors move their own records between Draft and Under Review, and may withdraw a submission before review concludes. Publication, archiving, and the Duplicate Of and Merged Into markers are editorial acts reserved to the Archivist offices — see Authority & Offices. Senior editorial officers may publish directly where review would serve no purpose.

The lifecycle governs The Library, The Gallery, The Lexicon, The Instrumentarium, The Archive and Manuscripts. Each collection page describes only what is particular to it.