Editorial Charter

⚠️ DRAFT — PENDING MAINTAINER SIGN-OFF (S11). This charter is a working draft. It will be finalized and signed before public launch.

Effective date: Pending S11 launch Last updated: 2026-05-11

1. Statement of editorial independence

Human Wants to Learn ("HWTL") is an open educational resource. Every concept page, curated clip, key-point summary, and tutor surfacing decision is made solely on the basis of pedagogical quality. No advertiser, sponsor, revenue partner, or financial relationship influences what content appears, how it is ranked, or which tutors are recommended to learners.

This independence is structural, not aspirational. The technical architecture enforces separation between the editorial pipeline (concept registry, clip curation, tutor vetting) and the advertising pipeline (ad provider integration, impression tracking, revenue reporting). These systems share no data path: ad providers receive only the page topic for contextual targeting and never influence the editorial pipeline.

2. The principle

Advertisers never influence content. Specifically:

• Concept selection. Which concepts enter the registry is determined by community contribution and editorial review. Advertisers cannot pay to have a concept added, removed, or prioritized.
• Clip verification. Whether a YouTube clip is marked "verified" depends on whether it accurately teaches the concept within the curated time window. Advertiser preferences play no role.
• Tutor surfacing. Which tutors appear on a concept page is determined by their declared expertise coverage and availability. Advertisers cannot pay for placement in the tutor section. (Promoted tutor placements may be explored in a future version; if introduced, they will be clearly labeled as "Promoted" and disclosed in an update to this charter.)
• Key points and summaries. The editorial content of each concept page is written or generated without advertiser input.

3. Advertising model

HWTL displays contextual ads on free-tier concept pages. "Contextual" means ads are selected based on the topic of the page (e.g., a cloud-computing ad on a CloudFormation concept page), not based on the user's browsing history, personal data, or behavioral profile.

Our ad partners (Carbon Ads, with EthicalAds as a documented fallback) share this commitment to contextual-only targeting. Neither partner engages in behavioral tracking or cross-site profiling.

Paid subscribers see no ads.

4. Escalation path

If an advertiser, sponsor, or any third party attempts to influence editorial content — for example, by requesting that a concept be added, removed, or re-ranked in exchange for payment or favorable terms — the following process applies:

1. Immediate refusal. The request is declined, and the advertiser is informed that editorial influence is not available at any price. 2. Internal documentation. The incident is logged by the project maintainer with the date, the party involved, the nature of the request, and the response given. 3. Public disclosure. If the attempt was material (e.g., a written demand, a conditional contract, a threat to withdraw funding), a summary is published on this editorial page — identifying the party and the nature of the attempt — within 30 days of the incident. Transparency is the deterrent. 4. Contract termination. If the attempting party is an active advertiser, their contract is terminated and any outstanding payments are refunded.

This escalation path exists to make the cost of attempted influence higher than the benefit. HWTL's credibility depends on learners trusting that what they see is chosen for them, not for an advertiser.

5. Revenue streams and editorial separation

HWTL has three coequal revenue streams (per project decision D18):

1. Contextual advertising — on free-tier concept pages. 2. Live tutoring marketplace — commissions on booked sessions. 3. Paid subscriptions — ad-free experience with personalized summaries.

None of these revenue streams has priority over the others, and none has influence over editorial decisions. The editorial pipeline is a separate concern from the business model.

6. Maintainer signoff

This charter is binding on all HWTL maintainers, contributors, and partners. Violations should be reported to editorial@human-wants-to-learn.dev.

Signed: [project owner], [date pending S11 launch]

End of Editorial Charter draft. Status: pending maintainer sign-off in Sprint 11.