Writing to the archive
One address, read by the archive. Corrections, observation reports and source pointers are wanted; the rest of this page says what falls outside that.
Write to editor@flat.diazites.com — the archive answers as the Flat Earth Files archive, not as a person. There is no phone number and no postal address, because there is no office; this is a small independent archive kept in one piece, and email is the whole of the correspondence.
A one-line subject helps more than anything else in the message. Put the page name and what kind of message it is — correction: horizon.html, observation: 6 km sightline, source pointer: 1890s canal survey — and it will be read faster than a message whose subject is “question”.
What is wanted
- Corrections. A wrong date, a mis-transcribed quotation, a translation that does not say what we claim, a figure with no source, a source that cannot be found again. Say which page and which sentence, and give the source that shows the error if you have it. The About page explains how corrections are published.
- Observation reports. Something you saw or measured yourself. The useful details are: date and time, place, your height above the surface, what you used, air temperature and humidity if you noted them, and what you actually saw rather than what you concluded. A photograph with the conditions written down beats a description with none.
- Source pointers. Old surveying manuals, canal and railway records, maps, almanacs, pamphlets, physical models, or the mainstream primary documents that settle a point. Names of works and where they can be found are welcome even when we disagree with the work.
- Corrections to our framing. If a page misstates the mainstream account, or makes it sound weaker than it is, that is a fault and we want to hear about it.
What is not wanted
- Abuse. Messages about the archive's honesty, parentage or intelligence are deleted unread, whichever side of the argument they come from.
- Demands. Requests for a proof on the spot, for a debate on your channel, or for the archive to take a public position on somebody else's argument. We publish pages; we do not perform.
- Anything needing advice. Medical, legal, safety, financial, or personal questions are outside what this archive does and will not be answered. That is not a snub — it is simply a subject this site knows nothing about, and nothing here is advice of any kind.
- Material about groups or individuals. Anything that turns the shape of the ground into a claim about an ethnic, religious or political group, or an accusation against a named person, is outside the archive's scope and will not be published here. See the editorial stance.
- Link drops and promotion. Mass mailings, offers to buy advertising or guest posts, and requests to “just take a look at my site” are ignored.
What happens to a submitted observation
Observation reports may be published in the archive's observation log, with credit, unless you ask for something else. The log is meant to be the raw material the longer files are built from, so entries are published much as they arrive: the conditions, the equipment and what was seen, with the argument left for the file that follows.
Three points on that, so there are no surprises. First, credit means the name or handle you sign with and nothing else — no location beyond the place you report, no contact details. Second, if you would rather be anonymous, say so; the entry will appear without attribution and that request is kept with the message. Third, if an entry is published and you later change your mind, ask for it to be amended or removed and it will be — the privacy page says the same thing.
Reports that cannot be logged because something essential is missing — no date, no place, no statement of height — may get a short reply asking for the detail, or may simply be held until a later entry covers the same ground. Nothing is published that has been edited to say something other than what the sender reported, and a report that does not fit the archive's reading is not dropped on that account: it is logged as what was seen.
Replies
Everything sent to the archive is read. Not everything gets an answer, and the honest reason is volume against hands: corrections that arrive with a source get a reply, observation reports that make it into the log get a note when they do, and a message that only wants an argument will probably get silence. If you have sent a correction and heard nothing for a few weeks, send it again — mail does get lost, and a second copy is not a nuisance.
This page describes how to reach the archive and what it will and will not do with a message. Nothing here is medical, legal or safety advice, and the archive cannot advise on anything outside its subject.