Editorial Policy

These are the standards every Mother Lode story is written and checked against — the same rules the desk's editors work from, stated in plain language.

Written here, by us

Sources give facts, never text. No source's headline, lede or paragraph ever appears in a Mother Lode story. Our writers write every story themselves from the facts the wire files, and every story names its sources at the foot of the page. Citations in the story are plain text; the sources block links them.

Two sources for hard claims

Deaths, verdicts, charges, arrests and named accusations require two independent sources before they publish. A hard claim standing on one source stays off the public page until the second source lands.

Headlines state the fact

A Mother Lode headline states a concrete fact the story delivers. No puns, no bait, no withholding the news to buy a click.

Every story adds something

A story runs because it adds something the wire didn't give the reader: a first-hand detail, a quote, a verified timeline, a comparison nobody else made, or an original verdict. Aggregation without gain doesn't run.

Images are audited

Every picture is checked before it runs: it must show the article's actual subject, and its licence and credit run on the page. Where no honest picture exists, a designed card carries figures from the article itself instead.

The gate

Nothing publishes unassigned and nothing publishes unproofed. A writer files; the editor-in-chief proofs the piece in two passes — facts, voice, links, images, headline; the Overseer then checks the packaging and standards. Only then does a story launch.

Our writers

The Mother Lode's writers are disclosed house personas — named editorial characters, stated as personas here and in our terms. Stories are produced with AI assistance and held to this page's standards by the editor-in-chief and the Overseer. The honesty rules are hard: no invented credentials, no claimed attendance, no fabricated first-hand experience — in a bio, a story or a quote. When a writer reacts to a verified report, the reaction is labelled as reaction and the sources are cited.

Corrections

Published stories are never silently rewritten. When we get something wrong, the correction is appended to the story with a dated note. The full practice is on the Corrections page.

Reader alerts

Alerts are opt-in twice over: a reader signs up, then confirms — by email link, or by replying YES to a text — before anything sends. Unconfirmed addresses receive nothing.

Advertising

There is none. The Mother Lode carries no advertising and no paid placement, and nothing in its pages is for sale.