A Pod Editorial is the social editorial space and methodology used to weave pages from individual pod author sites into a coherent collective whole. It is where rough drafts become shared artefacts, and where many voices are edited into something readable without erasing the fact that it came from many minds.
A pod typically contains multiple Pod Author sites under a Pod Root. Those author sites are allowed to be messy: half-finished pages, wild experiments, duplicates, contradictory takes, and multiple parallel versions of “the same” concept. Pod Editorial exists precisely because this mess is normal, and because a collective library is not produced by accident.
The simplest Pod Editorial process is practical and human. A pod nominates one member as the steward of the Pod Root (sometimes called the Pod Root owner in day-to-day conversation). That steward acts as a working editor: reading across author sites, selecting the strongest pages, and forking them into the Pod Root site so there is a shared “best current” corpus.
Pod Editorial is also the place where the pod resolves duplicates. When different pod members have written different versions of the same page, the editorial space is where the group deliberates, compares, and agrees a shared vision for what the collective version should be. This can mean choosing one version, weaving together multiple versions, or creating a new composite page that credits and links back to the contributing author pages.
Pod Editorial does not require unanimity. Its goal is not to flatten difference, but to make difference navigable. Where perspectives genuinely diverge, the collective page can become a hub: a clear shared summary that points to “author lenses” as linked alternatives, preserving the richness of multiple viewpoints while still giving newcomers a stable path through the material.
Pod Editorial is a craft practice. It includes naming, tightening language, aligning definitions, removing accidental contradictions, and turning scattered fragments into a progression that a reader can follow. The methodology is intentionally lightweight so it can be run by volunteers, but serious enough that the Pod Root becomes a trusted reference point rather than a random pile of forks.
Pod Editorial is also a social agreement about readiness. A page in an author site can stay private, messy, or provisional for as long as the author likes. A page becomes part of the collective pool when it is marked as finished (by the author, by agreement with a guide, or through a shared review practice), and then an editor forks it into the Pod Root as the current collective edition.
Pod Editorial is how a pod becomes legible. Without it, the pod is a swarm of interesting drafts. With it, the pod becomes a living book: still forkable, still plural, but also shaped, curated, and intentionally woven.