Editorial Principles

Three kinds of writing, kept apart

The library holds three different kinds of material, and its first duty is not to mix them.

• Identity. Pages about therians and otherkin describe real people and their real experience. They are written in plain, present-tense prose and make no claim that cannot be supported.
• Folklore. Pages about werewolves and shapeshifters describe what people in various times and places have told and believed. They are reports of stories, and say so.
• Imaginative writing. The stories and poems in the stacks are works of art, and are labeled as such.

Where a page touches more than one of these, it marks the join. A reader should never be left unsure whether a sentence is about a legend or about a living person.

Describe, do not prescribe

The library explains what words mean and how they are used. It does not tell anyone what they are. No page will suggest that a reader is or is not a therian, and no page will urge a reader toward or away from an identity. The only encouragement offered is toward patience and honest thought.

Honest about certainty

Much about these subjects is not known. Formal research on therian and otherkin identity is still limited, and the community's own history survives in scattered and sometimes conflicting records. We therefore:

• say "is reported," "is widely described" or "is not known" when that is the truth of the matter;
• do not invent statistics, studies or authorities;
• give dates only where they are well established, and round them where they are not;
• present spiritual and psychological explanations as the personal understandings they are.

In folklore, we keep to traditions that are widely documented, and we note where a story is known from a single source or where its meaning is disputed.

Names, pen names and composite accounts

The library does not name private individuals, and it tells the history of the community without singling out particular people, groups or sites. Those who built these communities largely did so under chosen names, and we respect that.

The keepers and contributors write under pen names. Personal essays in the stacks are composite accounts: each gathers experiences that are commonly described by therians and otherkin into a single voice. They are illustrations, carefully made to be true to the general experience, and are not the testimony of any one identifiable person.

Respect for living traditions

Many of the stories retold here belong to cultures that are alive and well, and some are sacred. We try to retell only what has been widely shared, to credit a story to the people it comes from, and to avoid the old habit of treating other peoples' beliefs as curiosities. Where a tradition is, by the wish of its own keepers, not for outsiders to discuss, we leave it alone and say that we have done so.

Safety before color

Folklore contains recipes, rituals and remedies. We describe them as history and never as things to try. Where a plant or practice named in a legend is dangerous, the page says so in plain words.

The library does not give medical, psychological or legal advice. Where a subject touches on health or distress, we say what is generally understood and direct the reader to qualified help. See wellbeing and care.

Tone

We write calmly. We do not mock, and we do not gush. We assume that the reader is intelligent and may be anxious, and that both facts deserve consideration. We prefer a short plain word to a long clever one, and we would sooner leave a thing unsaid than say it carelessly.

Revision

Every page carries the date on which it was last tended. Pages are reread on a regular round, and corrected when we find we were wrong or when usage has moved. A definition in the glossary is changed only when the change reflects how the word is actually used, and not to promote a usage we happen to prefer.

Independence

The library carries no advertising and accepts no payment for inclusion. It is not connected with any company, institution, movement or other site. What appears on these shelves is here because the keepers judged it accurate and worth a reader's time.