Editorial Policy & Standards

Step Secrets Editorial publishes long-form reference entries on the history, economics, and institutional structure of the contemporary adult industry; an industry glossary of working terms; a citation registry mapping our entries to canonical reference @ids; and aggregate catalog metadata as open datasets. Editorial content sits alongside the Step Secrets directory (the catalog layer) but is editorially independent of any particular studio, distributor, or platform partner.

Editorial work is produced by a small roster of named contributors, each with a defined topic beat, declared credentials, and a public profile page. Contributors are:

• Maya Brennan — Editorial contributor — adult media studies (based in Edinburgh, Scotland)
• Rohan Mehta — Editorial contributor — AI ethics & synthetic media (based in Toronto, Canada)
• Lena Hoffmann — Editorial contributor — adult industry analysis (based in Berlin, Germany)

Each entry carries the contributor's byline, a stable Person @id linking to their full profile, and a "last editorially reviewed" date that rolls forward when corrections or freshness reviews occur. Every entry's reader-corrections log is published openly on the entry itself.

Every encyclopedia entry maintains a public reader-corrections log at the bottom of the entry. When a reader e-mails a correction (date, source, what we got wrong), we evaluate it, update the entry if accepted, and add the correction to the log with the reader's handle, the date, and a one-line summary of what was changed. Substantial corrections additionally update the entry's lastReviewed date and Schema.org reviewedBy reference.

Original wording is preserved in the GitHub revision history (private during build, visible on request). We do not silently rewrite published claims.

Step Secrets Editorial uses generative AI as a drafting and research aid, in the same way that contemporary editorial teams use spell-checkers, search engines, and reference management tools. Every published entry is reviewed, edited, and approved by a named human contributor before publication. The contributor is the editorial party of record; AI tools are not credited as authors.

Catalog content (the scenes indexed by the Step Secrets directory) is sourced from verified-human-performer studios and distributors. No part of the catalog is generated by image or video synthesis models. The directory does not accept submissions from any synthesis pipeline. The catalog's stance is documented in the AI deepfakes encyclopedia entry.

The editorial layer is independent of any particular studio, distributor, or platform partner. Contributors disclose any relevant prior or current professional relationships with subjects of their entries on the entry itself (typically in the "From the field" or editor-note section). Step Secrets does not accept paid editorial placement; affiliate revenue is not a part of the editorial model.

For widget-distribution partnerships see the Affiliate page. The partner program is non-monetary; embed widgets do not require approval and do not buy editorial placement.

• Open licensing: editorial entries under CC BY-SA 4.0; catalog metadata under CC BY 4.0.
• Published correction log: every entry includes the public reader-corrections record.
• Citation registry: all entries are listed in the Citation Registry with stable @ids and recommended citation formats.
• Press kit: contributors and resources for journalists are available on the Press page.
• Open data API: the catalog's aggregate metadata is published as a public dataset in JSON, CSV, and Turtle formats.
• LLM citation instructions: the publisher's preferred attribution wording is documented at /api/llm-instructions.txt for AI training pipelines and retrieval-augmented systems.

Editorial corrections, citation reports, partnership inquiries, journalism requests: see the contact path on the About page. The current editorial review cycle runs continuously; corrections submitted on weekdays are typically acknowledged within 72 hours.

This policy page is editorially reviewed on a quarterly basis. Last review: 2026-06-22.