Layer 9: The Commons and Home

What this means

This Layer draws the most important distinction in OLN's design: the difference between collectively owned canonical knowledge (the Commons) and individually owned personal creative work (Home). These aren't just different places to post content — they are different economic, ownership, and governance zones with different rules.

The Commons is where Facts live. It's the collaborative knowledge base of a Franchise — the canon, the worldbuilding, the reference material, the organization. Contributions to the Commons are collectively owned, governed by the Franchise Team, and foundational to what OLN is.

Home is where creators live. It's the space for essays, analysis, reviews, fan fiction, speculation, and personal engagement with Franchises. Home content is individually owned, individually controlled, and — if the creator wishes — individually monetized.

Both zones matter. Both generate Credits. Both earn their contributors real governance voice. But they do different work, and the Constitution recognizes that difference explicitly.

Formal Text

Article I: The Commons

1.1 Definition. The Commons is the collectively-owned canonical content of a Franchise or the Network. It includes:

• The Fact graph of each Franchise
• Canonical exposition, summaries, and guides built on Facts
• Curation and organizational work (indexes, taxonomies, cross-references)
• Reference materials, glossaries, style guides
• Platform infrastructure and tooling (Network-level)
• Translations of canonical material

1.2 Ownership. Commons content is collectively owned. No individual may unilaterally modify, delete, privatize, or remove Commons content once it has been integrated. Amendments follow Franchise governance processes.

1.3 Authorship credit. Every contribution to the Commons retains permanent visible attribution to its contributor(s). Collective ownership does not erase individual authorship.

1.4 Stewardship. The Franchise Team stewards its Franchise's Commons; the Network stewards the Network-level Commons (platform, cross-Franchise resources). Stewardship includes quality maintenance, canon consistency, and evolution over time.

1.5 Commitment to Fact-grounding. All Commons content must either contribute to the Fact graph or be explicitly grounded in existing Facts, per Layer 10. Contradictions with canon are resolved through the Fact lifecycle and dispute processes.

1.6 Commons sub-types. Commons sub-types (e.g., Fact contribution, exposition, curation, reference) may emerge naturally. They are not fixed in the Constitution. Network or Franchise policy may recognize sub-types as operational categories without requiring Constitutional amendment.

Article II: Home

2.1 Definition. Home is the individually-owned space each contributor has on the platform. Home content includes personal essays, analysis, reviews, fan fiction, art, creative work, commentary, and anything else a contributor chooses to publish or maintain privately.

2.2 Ownership. Home content is owned by the contributor who created it. The contributor may edit, delete, archive, monetize, license externally, or transfer ownership of their Home content, subject to Network rules on dispute handling and content standards.

2.3 Home sub-types. Home is structured into three sub-types, each serving different modes of engagement:

Creator Home

• Public creative space for published work intended for audience
• Where monetization happens (subscriptions, patronage, advertising share, event revenue, external licensing)
• Content is visible to anyone on the platform by default; creators may set per-work access controls
• Subject to Fact-grounding standards: content must either be Fact-grounded or explicitly marked as non-factual
• Generates Home Credits based on Impact per Layer 7

Profile

• The user's persona presentation
• Includes bio, history, contribution record, Franchise affiliations, recognition, badges
• Not primarily content, but an identity surface
• Subject to platform-level accuracy norms (claims about Franchise expertise must be substantive)
• Does not generate direct Credits

Journal

• Private drafts, works-in-progress, personal notes
• Not indexed, not searchable by others, not subject to Fact-grounding checks (unpublished)
• May be shared with specific collaborators or editors without general publication
• Can be moved to Creator Home (publishing) or nominated for Commons promotion when ready
• Does not generate Credits until published or promoted

Article III: Zone Axes

The Commons/Home distinction operates on three explicit dimensions:

3.1 Ownership.

• Commons: collectively owned by the Franchise or Network
• Home: individually owned by the contributor

3.2 Content type.

• Commons: canonical — tied to the Fact graph, constituting shared truth
• Home: personal engagement — interpretation, analysis, creative extension, commentary

3.3 Stewardship.

• Commons: governed by Franchise Teams (or Network bodies for Network-level Commons)
• Home: self-governed by the contributor, within platform-wide rules

All three dimensions apply. Content whose ownership, type, and stewardship all point to one zone is clearly in that zone. Edge cases are resolved through the promotion mechanism (Article V) or by Franchise Team judgment.

Article IV: Content Metadata

Rather than forcing content into discrete types, OLN uses metadata-driven classification. Every piece of content carries attributes describing its relationship to the Fact graph and the platform.

4.1 Core attributes include:

• Fact references (which Facts are cited)
• Fact state of references (Speculative, Pre-Release, Provisional, Canonical, Historical, Retconned per Layer 10)
• Fact-grounding status (grounded, partially grounded, explicitly non-factual)
• Spoiler status and source media references
• Dispute status (undisputed, flagged, under review, resolved)
• Monetization eligibility (computed from above attributes)
• Authorship, publication date, last modification date
• Canonical tier (if Franchise uses multi-tier canon)

4.2 Attributes may be extended by Network policy without Constitutional amendment. New attributes inherit the same metadata-driven approach.

4.3 Contributors control metadata on their own Home content within the rules. They cannot mark disputed claims as undisputed; they cannot unmark spoilers for content that references spoiler-flagged Facts; they cannot deny Fact-ground for content that cites Facts.

Article V: Promotion from Home to Commons

5.1 Home content may be nominated for promotion to Commons by its creator.

5.2 Franchise Team reviews the nomination against published criteria for Commons inclusion.

5.3 If accepted:

• Content is copied into Commons (original remains in Home for the creator's history; Commons version becomes the authoritative one)
• Creator earns a one-time Commons Credit award sized to the contribution's value
• Creator retains permanent authorship credit on the Commons version
• Content is now under Franchise Team stewardship; edits follow Commons governance
• Monetization of the Home version ends; the Commons Credit award is the compensation
• Promotion is irrevocable — the creator cannot later pull the content back from Commons

5.4 Rejected promotions:

• Content stays in Home unchanged
• No record of rejection is publicly visible
• Rejection is not held against the creator; not a quality judgment on the creator's broader work

5.5 Partial promotion. Franchise Team may accept promotion of a specific section or component of a larger Home work. The full original remains in Home; the promoted portion is integrated into Commons with attribution. This prevents all-or-nothing dynamics.

5.6 Franchise Team must publish the criteria used for accepting Commons promotions. Consistency and accountability require that the standards be legible.

Article VI: Cross-Zone References

6.1 Home content may reference Commons Facts freely. References inherit spoiler status and Fact state.

6.2 Commons content may cite Home content as a community resource (e.g., "further reading," "community perspectives"). Citation is not adoption — the Home content remains in Home unless formally promoted.

6.3 Citation counts flow Impact Credits between zones:

• Home content cited by Commons content earns Home Impact Credits
• Commons content cited by Home content earns Commons Impact Credits
• Cross-zone citations follow the same anti-gaming rules as within-zone citations

Article VII: Home-Only Contributors

7.1 A contributor whose contributions are exclusively in Home (no Commons contributions in any Franchise) is classified as Home-only.

7.2 Home-only contributors are full platform participants:

• They accumulate Home Credits and Power
• They vote in Network and Franchise matters
• They may hold Council or Arbiter seats under the eligibility rules
• Their Home content is eligible for monetization

7.3 Home-only contributors operate under a lower Power ceiling: 2,500 Power (vs. the 3,500 single-Franchise Team ceiling).

7.4 The Home-only classification ends when a contributor accumulates at least 500 Commons Credits in any Franchise. At that point, the contributor moves to the standard ceiling progression.

7.5 The lower Home-only ceiling reflects the principle that Commons contribution — direct canonical stewardship — is weighted more in governance voice. Home-only contributors still have real voice; Commons contributors have more.

Article VIII: Monetization of Home Content

8.1 Creator Home content is eligible for direct monetization from platform launch.

8.2 Monetization is opt-in per piece. Creators decide whether to monetize each work, with what mechanisms (subscription, patronage, advertising share, external licensing), and at what tier.

8.3 Monetization revenue is distinct from Credits. Monetized Home content earns Credits based on Impact and pays the creator directly in cash per the revenue mechanisms of Layer 11.

8.4 Dispute-gating applies: disputed content cannot generate monetization revenue during dispute resolution (Layer 8 Article VIII).

8.5 Platform fees: OLN retains 10% of gross Creator Home revenue to fund Network operations, anti-gaming infrastructure, and Contributor Funds. The remainder goes to the creator after applicable external costs (payment processing, taxes, etc.).

8.6 Anti-gaming infrastructure operates from launch: bot traffic detection, coordinated inauthentic behavior analysis, payment fraud review, geographic and behavioral anomaly detection. Revenue is held 14 days before payout to allow fraud detection windows.

Article IX: Attribution and Authorship

9.1 Authorship is never erased by any mechanism in this Constitution. Promoted content retains the author's name; banned contributors' past work retains their attribution; retired Franchises' archives retain attributions.

9.2 Contributors may, for privacy or safety reasons, request pseudonymous or anonymous attribution at time of publication. Once a work is published under a given attribution, the attribution cannot be changed except by request of the author.

9.3 Upon contributor death or incapacity, attribution is preserved. Family members may update profile information and request memorial designation but cannot alter historical attribution.