Editorial Policy

The rules the CliWorks notes are written and reviewed against.

One question per page

An entry exists to answer a specific thing. If it starts covering two, it is split. Entries that would need a page of context to be useful are dropped rather than padded.

Written from use, not from summaries

Every command on the site has been run. Summaries of other people's summaries tend to lose the flag that mattered and keep the one that did not.

Versions are stated

Command line tools change. Each entry names the version it was checked against. Where a flag is new, or has changed meaning, that is written on the page instead of being quietly dropped.

Distribution differences are not smoothed over

A command that works on Debian and not on macOS says so. Pretending otherwise produces notes that fail for exactly the readers least able to guess why.

Corrections follow the same path as new entries

A reported error is reproduced before the note changes. Rewrites get the same verification as first drafts - there is no fast track for corrections.

No paid placements

Nothing on CliWorks is sponsored. A tool is not written up sooner because it is popular, and not skipped because it is commercial.