Notices · editorial
Editorial Policy
A reference is a set of decisions made consistently. This policy records the decisions behind the compendium so that a reader may judge the writing against the standard it claims.
The reader the desk writes for
Every paper is written for a reader who has no teacher beside them. The desk assumes curiosity and patience, but no prior acquaintance with the material and no access to anything but the page itself. A sentence that only makes sense to someone who already knows the answer is treated as a fault, and every paper is read again with that fault in mind before it is kept.
The sequence of exposition
Papers state an idea in words, then draw it, then write it in symbols. This sequence is fixed. It is what keeps a page readable to a beginner without making it tedious for a reader who already knows the material, because the symbol appears last and may be taken at a glance by whoever needs only that. Where a paper must depart from the sequence, it says so and it says why.
Checks applied to every paper
- Every symbol is defined where it first appears or in the reference step.
- Every figure is described in the sentence beside it.
- Every rounding is announced with the figure it affects.
- Every claim is stated no more generally than the paper can support.
- Every page stands alone while fitting the step it belongs to.
Review and revision
The compendium is reviewed as a whole rather than paper by paper, because a change in one paper may unsettle the notation of another. A revision aims at clarity and never at novelty; a page that is already clear is left as it is, because stability is a service to the reader who returns. Where a revision changes the sense of a page, the change is described on the page itself, not buried in a list.
Corrections from readers
A report of an error is read by a person and checked against the paper concerned. If it is correct, the page is revised at the next review and the correction is acknowledged to the reader who sent it. If the report concerns a matter of taste rather than fact, the desk weighs it against the register of the compendium and replies either way, so that no reader is left wondering what became of their note.
Scope and restraint
The compendium admits a new paper only when it fills a genuine gap in the rail, and it refuses a paper that repeats material already covered, however attractive the subject. Restraint of this kind is what keeps a reference short enough to be read and coherent enough to be trusted. The desk would rather publish five well-made papers than twenty that overlap.
Independence
The compendium is maintained by a small desk that answers to no institution and takes no direction but its own editorial judgement. That independence is stated here because a reader is entitled to know who is speaking. It also bounds what the compendium claims: the writing stands on careful reading and clear exposition, and on nothing else.
Why the policy is published
An editorial policy is usually kept behind a desk and applied without comment. This compendium publishes its policy instead, so that a reader may hold a paper to the standard the desk claims. If a page drifts from the sequence of exposition, or quotes a share without saying that it is rounded, the reader has grounds to say so and the desk has grounds to correct it. Publishing the standard turns a private habit into a public promise.
The policy also protects the material. A reference that keeps to a fixed standard becomes easier to extend, because a new paper has a shape to fit and a set of checks to pass. The desk would rather add one paper that meets the standard than three that must each be defended on their own terms, and the policy is what makes that preference workable.