Editorial policy

This page says how the articles on this site are made, who is answerable for them, and what we will not publish. It exists so a reader can judge the work by its method rather than by its confidence.

Who publishes this

Writesides of History is an independent history publication. It is the author and the publisher of every article, plate and dossier on this site — there is no third-party byline, and nothing here is a syndicated or purchased article from elsewhere.

Writesidesofhistory
Langstraat 45
5963 NV Hegelsom
The Netherlands
info@writesidesofhistory.com

What we publish

In-depth articles on ancient, medieval, early modern and modern history, organised by period and by subject. Each one is built around a specific question worth answering rather than around a keyword, and it is written to be read from start to finish.

Alongside them we publish paid material — maps, classroom packs and dossiers — which is described in the shop. Nothing that has been free is put behind a payment, and no article is shortened to make a paid product look better. If a paid file does not contain something an article cannot, it should not exist.

How an article is researched

1. A question first. An article begins with something that is genuinely unclear or genuinely misunderstood, not with a phrase somebody searches for.
2. Primary and academic sources before anything else. Claims are checked against established historians and, where possible, against the documents themselves — trial records, statutes, treaties, chronicles, archaeological reports.
3. Named sources. Articles carry a bibliography or a further-reading list naming the actual books and scholars behind them, so a reader can check the argument instead of trusting it.
4. Disagreement is reported as disagreement. Where historians differ, the article says so and attributes each position. Where the evidence runs out, it says that too, rather than closing the gap with a confident sentence.
5. Dates carry their precision. An approximate date is marked as approximate. A period is given as a period. A year that is disputed is described as disputed.

What we will not publish

• Pseudo-history. Lost civilisations, ancient astronauts, secret bloodlines, suppressed truths. Not as fact, and not as "some people say".
• Invented quotations. No sentence appears in quotation marks and attributed to a historical figure or a document unless it is genuinely attested. Where a source is described rather than quoted, the text says it is a summary and names the edition where the original can be read.
• Fabricated sources. Every work named in a bibliography is a real work that exists under that title, from that publisher, in that year.
• Content whose image rights are unclear. If we cannot establish that an image is ours, in the public domain, or openly licensed, it does not go on the page.
• Anything that reads as advice it is not. History is not legal, medical or financial guidance, and it is not presented as any of them.
• Hate, harassment or gratuitous cruelty. Difficult history — slavery, persecution, atrocity, war — is written about seriously, in context, and without dwelling on suffering for effect. It is not written to shock, and never to demean a living group.

Corrections

Errors are corrected on the published page. If you find one, write to info@writesidesofhistory.com saying which article and what is wrong; see the contact page. A correction that changes the substance of an article is described on the page rather than made quietly.

How this is funded, and what that changes

The site earns money in four ways, and each is disclosed where it appears:

• The shop. Maps, classroom packs, dossiers and a supporting range of printed goods. See the shop.
• Membership. Optional paid membership through Patreon, described on the membership page.
• Affiliate links. Some book recommendations are Amazon affiliate links, which earn a commission at no extra cost to you. This is disclosed in the footer of every page and beside the recommendations themselves.
• Donations. One-off contributions, entirely optional.

None of these decide what is published. A book is recommended because it is the book to read, not because it pays; a product appears beside an article only when it is about the same subject; and no article has ever been written to sell something. An affiliate link can never count as evidence for a claim — the sources an article rests on and the books it recommends are kept deliberately separate.

Advertising

This site currently carries no advertising. If that changes, advertising will be clearly distinguishable from editorial content — never styled to look like an article, a navigation element or a button — it will not appear on search results, error pages, checkout or product pages, and this page and the privacy policy will say so before a single ad is served. Advertisers will have no say over what is published or how it is written.

Privacy

What this site collects, what it does not, and what your choices are: the privacy policy.