URL Structure — Paths, Not Subdomains

Decision

OLN uses path-based URLs for Franchises and canonical entities. Subdomains are reserved for a future "graduation" escape hatch when a mature Franchise earns an independent brand presence.

Canonical URL patterns

loredoor.com/{franchise}/                     — franchise home
loredoor.com/{franchise}/canon/{type}/{slug}  — franchise canonical entity page
loredoor.com/canon/{type}/{slug}              — network canonical entity page
loredoor.com/@{handle}                        — user profile (Atlas)
loredoor.com/@{handle}/{work-slug}            — Creator Home work
loredoor.com/@{handle}/journal/               — Journal (noindex)

Note: Domain canonicalization (which of the three domains owned — loredoor.net, lore-door.com, others — becomes primary) is open. See G-031.

Reasoning

Authority consolidation. A new platform needs to build domain authority fast. Every Franchise page is a vote for the platform's topical authority on world-building and collaborative fiction. Subdomains fragment that signal at exactly the moment it's hardest to afford.

AEO graph density. Answer engines build entity knowledge graphs. A single authoritative domain with dense internal linking forms a much cleaner graph than a federation of subdomains. This matters more each year as LLM-mediated discovery grows.

Governance autonomy ≠ brand separation. A Franchise having its own Team and Constitution is an organizational design choice; it doesn't require URL separation. Reddit's subreddit model is a closer analogue than Fandom's per-wiki subdomains.

Fandom as cautionary tale. Per-wiki subdomains are part of why cross-wiki SEO is a mess at Fandom and why individual wikis struggle to rank outside their own franchise's name. Firsthand observation from years of internal advocacy at Fandom where this argument never landed with leadership.

Escape hatch

The system should be built so a mature Franchise can later graduate to a custom subdomain or TLD via a clean 301 migration. That's a feature offered at scale — not a default shipped with.

Alternatives considered

• Subdomain-per-Franchise (Fandom model): Rejected on authority fragmentation and AEO graph fragmentation grounds.
• Hybrid with /f/ prefix: Rejected unless a namespace collision with @handles or reserved paths becomes a real problem. The @ prefix on handles already does the namespace work.