Original Source and Accessibility Policy

The site may discover stories through many sources, but the published reader path should point to the best accessible original source whenever possible.

Core rule

Use many discovery sources, but publish the clearest original source. Do not bypass paywalls, defeat access controls, or copy full articles. If the best public path is not available, the item should usually wait, be replaced, or be clearly labeled.

Preferred source order

• Official paper, preprint, standards document, advisory, filing, agency release, project repository, or conference page.
• Original reporting from the publication that actually broke or investigated the story.
• Credible explainers only when they add context and link back to the underlying source.
• Secondary rewrites only as discovery leads, not as default reader links.

Paywall rule

Prefer accessible original sources. A paywalled article should not be the normal reader path when a public paper, agency release, project page, security advisory, company post, standards document, or public filing contains the underlying facts.

Paywalled material can be listed only when it is genuinely the original reporting and the paywall is clearly labeled. Do not summarize paywalled articles in a way that substitutes for reading them.

Candidate source checklist

• Is this the original source or only a rewrite?
• Is the page accessible to a normal reader without bypassing access controls?
• Does the source label match the real publisher, journal, institution, or project?
• Is the publication type clear when it matters: research, comment, opinion, advisory, filing, policy guidance, or vendor post?
• Is the date correct enough for a reader to understand recency?
• Does the item add practical value to AI, computing, science, hardware, software, repair, sustainability, stewardship, or regional technology coverage?

Automation boundary

Automation may gather candidates and trace them upstream. It should not auto-publish links just because a topic is trending. Publication requires source confidence, accessibility review, and a short original reason the item belongs.

A published news edition must also leave durable value: a useful catalog addition, a stronger annotation, repaired metadata, or a replacement for a broken or inferior resource. A scheduled check may publish nothing when no change improves the library.