The Tended Web

HOWTO.md — Tended Web (wire version 0.1, document rev 0.1.3)

Companion to SPEC.md rev 0.1.3. Files you create carry Version: 0.1 — the document revision tracks editorial changes only.

A. Join as a site owner (~20 minutes, no new software, no account)

  1. Read the pledge (one-page manifesto). If it's your web too, continue.
  2. Create your pledge file — copy, edit, upload. The Version: line comes first, then a blank line — both required:
   Version: 0.1
   Name: <your persistent name or pseudonym>
   Since: <today, YYYY-MM-DD>
   Pledge: <manifesto URL>
   Vouches: <URL where your vouches.txt will live>

Note: no inline # comments in these files — a # mid-line becomes part of the value. Comment lines start with # at the first character.

  1. Add a colophon to at least one substantial work: a short prose note — what you directed, what tools contributed, what you rejected and verified. Demonstration, not confession.
  2. Submit your URL to the seed list (any one of):

The only check performed: does a parseable pledge file exist at your URL. Nobody reviews your site. You appear in the directory (tier: Declared) after the next weekly crawl.

  1. Optionally add the badge/link to the homefront anywhere on your site — the pledge file's Pledge: line is the required backlink; the visible badge is just discovery.

Leaving: delete your tended.txt so the server returns a definitive not-found (HTTP 404/410, Gemini status 51, gopher selector-not-found). The crawler treats that as withdrawal and drops your listing within two crawls (~2 weeks). You cannot be delisted by accident: hosting outages (DNS/timeout/TLS/5xx) retain your last-good listing for 8 weeks, and an accidentally emptied or corrupted file is never treated as withdrawal — only true server-level absence is.

B. Vouch for someone (the core act — do it rarely and mean it)

  1. Read/use/test a specific work by another tended participant. Actually verify something: reproduce the steps, check the sources, run the code, compare the claims.
  2. If it's your first vouch, create vouches.txt containing just the header — a header-only file is valid (zero vouches):
   Version: 0.1
  1. Append a stanza (blank line before it):
   Site: <their tended.txt URL or site root>
   Work: <the specific work's URL>
   Date: <YYYY-MM-DD>
   Note: <one line: what you verified and how>
  1. That's the entire write operation. No submission, no approval. The crawler picks it up next pass — as long as your pledge file points to this file with Vouches: (that pointer is how the crawler finds your vouches at all; without it, your edges are invisible).

Norms: vouch outputs, not people-in-general. Never courtesy-vouch or trade vouches — a vouch with your name on it that fails in public is your failure too. Un-vouch by deleting the stanza — no drama, no tombstone. If work you vouched for turns out fraudulent, remove the vouch promptly; optionally note why on your own site.

C. Discover / consume the graph

D. Operate the homefront (founder runbook)

Weekly (automated): cron/CI runs the crawler → regenerates HTML + gemtext directory → commits snapshots/graph-YYYY-WW.json.

Weekly (manual, minutes): merge seed submissions after the mechanical existence-check (parseable pledge file at the resolved URL — resolution rules in SPEC §4.1). Additions are never refused for content, quality, or method — only for absence of a parseable pledge file.

Never: remove sites on request, arbitrate vouch disputes, rank editorially, add quality judgments to the directory. Every refusal is load-bearing. The index reflects the graph; humans shape the graph by vouching and un-vouching.

Mirrors: Agate (Gemini, single static binary) and Gophernicus (gopher) on any small VPS, pointed at rendered output.

E. Genesis cohort playbook (before public launch)

  1. Hand-pick 5–10 people whose work you already know (mix protocols: blogs + at least one capsule/phlog).
  2. Personal ask: pledge + colophon + real cross-vouches naming specific works actually verified.
  3. First crawl must show a genuine verification graph — the movement's first screenshot. No empty reciprocal rings.
  4. Then publish the one-pager and open the seed list. Working example first; philosophy second.

F. FAQ seeds

Changelog