Guidelines & Privacy.

1. What Belongs in the Archive

The Archive of No preserves records of refusals across all areas of human striving:

• Work & Careers: Job applications, fellowship refusals, promotion denials, severance notices.
• Art & Publishing: Manuscript rejections, gallery refusals, grant denials, audition cuts.
• Love & Relationships: Unrequited letters, break-up messages, proposal refusals.
• Bureaucracy & Institutions: Visa refusals, planning permission rejections, funding denials.
• Other: Any authentic record where an institution or individual said “no”.

2. Rights to Share and Public Credit

Contributors must have the lawful authority to share their story. You choose how you are credited publicly:

• Anonymous (Default): No name is recorded or displayed. Attribution appears as “Anonymous”.
• Pseudonym: A pen name of your choice (e.g. “A. Philosopher”).
• My Name: Your chosen real name or public attribution.

Public anonymity is an attribution choice, not a cryptographic guarantee of untraceability. Email addresses and account information are never required or published.

3. Human Review & Editorial Redaction

Every submission is reviewed by our editorial team before publication. To protect the privacy of all parties involved, our editors manually remove or blur:

• Names and identifying details of non-public individuals or junior staff.
• Personal email addresses, phone numbers, and physical postal addresses.
• Signatures, official stamps, and handwritten annotations.
• Application reference numbers, student IDs, passport numbers, or internal tracking codes.

Originals vs Reviewed Derivatives: Contributor file uploads (original PDFs, screenshots, scans) remain strictly private and accessible only to verified moderators. For public display, editors create a separate, cleaned image derivative or publish approved text only.

4. Data Retention Policy

Original contributor attachments are retained privately in secure storage for editorial handling while the entry remains under review. If an entry is removed or rejected, unreferenced draft files are scheduled for deletion during regular maintenance cycles.

You may request the correction or permanent removal of any record at any time using the form below.

5. Report, Request Removal, or Submit a Correction

If you notice personal private information that was not redacted, wish to request the removal of an entry you submitted, or want to submit an editorial correction, please use this form.