A spiral notebook labeled “Editorial Standards” with a fountain pen, coffee mug, glasses, and laptop on a wooden desk—symbolizing clarity and integrity in publishing.

Editorial Standards

Last updated: July 2025

At Cardinal Tenets, we publish ideas that are clear, grounded, and most importantly… they’re human. Our editorial standards are built on trust, common sense, and a deep respect for the reader. Here’s what that means in practice:

What We Publish

We focus on commentary, essays, and analysis rooted in:

  • Lived experiences and real-world application
  • Constructive perspectives (not performative outrage)
  • Clear, readable, writing
  • Honest thought even when it’s unpopular (possibly more-so then)
  • Curiosity, nuance, and ethical clarity
  • Our goal is to speak to the ‘reasonable middle’, we are not seeking to echo extremes or trends.

What We Don’t Publish

  • Articles or Essays generated by AI tools
  • Political manifestos or partisan screeds
  • Aggressive or clickbait headlines
  • SEO bait without substance
  • Plagiarized, derivative, or previously published material

If it doesn’t add value or move the conversation forward, it doesn’t make it onto Cardinal Tenets.

Originality & Attribution

All writing on Cardinal Tenets is original work unless explicitly stated.
We do not publish ghostwritten, sponsored, or AI-generated editorial content. If we reference others’ work, we cite it. If we invite guest voices, they receive credited citations, transparently and proudly. This applies to our submitted articles, essays, or thought-seeds for original works by us.

Every insight you read here comes from a real person with something relevant to say.

Our Use of AI at Cardinal Tenets

We do not use AI to write, edit, or generate written the content published under our byline.

We believe that human voice, judgment, and ethical reasoning are irreplaceable by machines. Therefore, every article published here has been conceived, written, edited, and finalized by human hands.

We do responsibly use AI tools in non-creative, supportive roles to improve presentation and streamline production. These include:

AI Use for Operational Support
  • Website design and optimization: Layouts, UX suggestions, and content organization
  • SEO and metadata generation: Titles, tags, descriptions, and Open Graph markup
  • Editorial illustration: AI-generated images that accompany articles or podcast episodes
  • Workflow automation: Categorization, social preview formatting, and scheduling
AI Use for Creative Support
  • Prewriting Organization: Organizing raw ideas, questions, themes, or positions without structure.
  • Research & Reference: Identifying supporting material, quotes, case studies, or background facts.
  • Concept Mapping: Visually laying out relationships between the concepts or arguments.

All information is checked for accuracy and final writing is fully written and crafted by us, making sure it reflects our own thinking, voice, and accuracy.

AI lends us a hand, helping us polish the presentation so our human voices can stand out in the written works.

Editorial Process

We follow a clear process for each article:

  1. Submission or Concept Approval
  2. Development & Drafting
  3. Editorial Review (for tone, clarity, originality)
  4. Light Proofing (grammar, formatting)
  5. Visuals + SEO Metadata
  6. Final Approval + Publishing

We don’t over-edit or dilute meaning, but we hold every piece to our editorial standards of clarity, authenticity, and integrity.

Any submissions by guest writers to the site are delivered to the original author, prior to publishing, for a final approval before we release to the public. While we may see certain edits that are needed to meet editorial standards, we believe the original author maintains final-say over their works publication.

Questions or Concerns?

If you have feedback on something we’ve published or want to report a factual error: please contact us.

Some Final Notes

Cardinal Tenets exists as a space to amplify honest and real voices, to elevate a thoughtful discourse, and to cut through the black and white, theatre-driven, extremes that are so prevalent in today’s world. We employ these editorial standards to maintain that mission.

We’re not here to feed algorithms. We’re here to challenge assumptions, argue the point, make everyone consider the facets of every subject, and write things that last.

If you’re writing for us, or reading us, you deserve to know how seriously we take that.