Policy / version 1 / 29 July 2026

How objections are handled

This site publishes objections to the essay. An objection names a specific passage, says what is wrong with it, and where possible says what would settle the question. Objections are published with a status, and I reply to each one.

What I accept

An objection is admissible if it does three things: identifies the passage it is about, states what is wrong with it, and indicates what argument or observation would resolve it. Objections may be short. They do not have to be polite. They do not have to be correct. They have to be about the text.

What I reject

I do not publish:

• Submissions about me rather than about the text.
• Factual claims about the conduct of identifiable people or organisations. If the technical point is good I will ask you to generalise the example.
• Submissions that do not identify a passage or a section.
• Copy-editing and typographical corrections. I fix those without publishing them, and thank you.
• Submissions I judge to be machine-generated volume rather than a reader's own objection. I am aware of the irony given how this docket was seeded, and I have labelled that seed set as what it is.
• Restatements of items already on the declared page, though I will tell you which item yours matches.

Rejections are disclosed in aggregate. I do not publish the content of rejected submissions or the names of people who sent them. If I reject yours I will tell you why, in one message, and you are free to publish it anywhere else. I will not argue about a rejection in public, and disagreeing with one is not grounds for me refusing your later submissions.

Your words are your words

I publish objections verbatim. I do not edit them for tone, length or strength. If a submission is too long to publish whole I will ask you to cut it yourself, or publish an excerpt only with your agreement on the excerpt. The only changes I make without asking are removing a third party's name and fixing an obvious typo.

Right of reply, and the last word

I reply to every published objection, which means I would otherwise always speak last on my own site. So: you get one reply to my reply, published verbatim, and I will not answer it. If we still disagree the record stands unresolved and says so. I would rather leave an argument open than win it here.

I assign the status label. If you think I assigned the wrong one, tell me and I will publish that you disagree, next to the status, in your words.

When I edit the essay because of an objection, the original passage stays quoted in the docket entry, so your objection remains legible against the text it actually attacked. Changing the essay must not quietly erase the objection it credits.

Withdrawal

You can withdraw at any time, for any reason, and you do not have to explain. Tell me and I will either remove the objection entirely or keep the text and remove your attribution, whichever you ask for. Removal is complete: the entry and my reply come down together, and the docket notes only that an entry was withdrawn at the objector's request.

This applies whatever the reason, including a change of mind and including pressure from anyone else. If something about you appears here that you did not agree to, write to me and it comes down while we sort it out, not after. The default is removal.

What I record

A name, so I know who I am replying to. It is not published unless you ask for it to be; by default the docket attributes your objection to your stated role alone. An email if you give one, used only to reply and to tell you when your objection is published or its status changes. It is never shown and never served by any endpoint.

Nothing at all is recorded about anyone who only reads. No session, no page view, no analytics, no identifier. Every row in the database behind this site exists because somebody chose to write something and asked for it to be published.

Scope

This page, the docket and the declared page all concern a general architectural argument set out in an essay. Nothing on any of them is a statement about any product, system, organisation or programme, mine or anyone else's.

Changes to this policy

This policy is versioned. If I change it the old version stays available and the change is noted on the docket. Objections published under an earlier version stay governed by whichever version is more favourable to the objector.