Funfactorium · Editorial

Editorial Standards

Effective date: 2026-05-30 Last reviewed: 2026-06-11 Operator: Mongrang — funfactorium.com

Who writes Funfactorium

Funfactorium is a solo project by Mongrang (Korea-based). One person handles topic selection, sourcing, drafting oversight, review, and updates. No outsourced editorial team, no anonymous contributors, no AI agents publishing on autopilot.

Solo operation is a deliberate choice — it keeps the voice consistent and the fact-check chain short. The trade-off is publication speed: a category like whiskies takes weeks to build, not hours.

How a guide is built

Each entry follows the same seven-step pipeline. Steps 2–6 are where mistakes get caught.

  1. Topic selection — based on category gaps, reader requests, or seasonal relevance.
  2. Canonical facts gathering — at least two independent sources per claim (taxonomy / origin / specifications).
  3. Care, how-to, or context layer — written from primary references, not aggregator summaries.
  4. Source citation — every page lists where the information came from.
  5. Image attribution — Wikimedia Commons with PD / CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA license verification per image. Self-hosted at funfactorium.com/images/ for stability.
  6. Editorial review — a human (me) reads the full entry, checks sources, verifies images, and signs off.
  7. Publish + monitor for updates. Material changes update the entry's Last reviewed field.

AI-assisted authoring (the honest version)

AI tools (currently Claude by Anthropic) help with step 3 — drafting the readable layer over verified facts. AI does not:

  • Decide which sources count.
  • Make the final factual claims.
  • Approve the entry for publication.

Every draft passes step 6 (human review). When AI gets something wrong — and it does, regularly, on niche taxonomy or rare cultivars — the human catches it before publish. This is the boundary I won't move.

Sources I cite

Categories rely on different reference traditions. The hierarchy in each:

CategoryPrimary references
HouseplantsRHS Plant Finder, Missouri Botanical Garden, Plants of the World Online (Kew)
Cats / DogsCFA / TICA / GCCF (cats), AKC / FCI / UKC (dogs) registry standards
BirdsIOC World Bird List, eBird, IUCN Red List
ConstellationsIAU Catalog, Hipparcos
MythologyLoeb Classical Library, Theoi.com, primary translations where available
Coffee / Tea / Watches / Cocktails / Gemstones / WhiskiesSpecialty Coffee Association, Camellia Sinensis Tea House, IBA, GIA, manufacturer documentation

When sources disagree, the entry says so.

What "For fun · sources cited" means

This is reference content, not professional advice. Care guides are not a substitute for a veterinarian, a botanist, or a registered dietitian. Identification guides are not a substitute for trained field observation. Use them as a starting point — not the final word — when the decision actually matters (medical, financial, legal, ecological).

Limitations I'll own

  • One person can't outpace ten editors. Smaller categories (hamsters, watches) update more slowly.
  • AI drafts occasionally hallucinate plausible-sounding citations. They get caught in step 6, but some may slip — please report.
  • Translations of mythology primary sources rely on English editions; nuance can be lost.
  • License classification on Wikimedia is occasionally wrong upstream — when I notice, the image is replaced.

Topic boundaries

I cover 13 categories actively (birds, cats, cocktails, coffee, constellations, dogs, gemstones, hamsters, houseplants, mythology, tea, watches, whiskies) with cooking planned for 2027.

I deliberately do not cover:

  • Medical diagnosis or treatment recommendations
  • Financial, investment, or legal advice
  • Breaking news, politics, or current events
  • Anything that requires real-time accuracy I can't guarantee

Corrections — the real SLA

If something on this site is wrong, please write to the contact email at the bottom of the page.

  • Acknowledgment within 48 hours.
  • Factual corrections published within 7 days in most cases.
  • The corrected page gets a Last reviewed date bump and, where the correction is substantive, an inline note crediting the reader (with permission).

Wrong information is the one thing this site can't afford. Reports are taken seriously.

Conflict of interest

  • No product sales or affiliate links currently. If that ever changes, it will be disclosed inline per entry.
  • No paid placements or sponsored content.
  • Google AdSense ads, if active, are clearly separated from editorial content and do not influence what gets covered.

Quality checks (what runs in the background)

Beyond manual review:

  • Automated image URL audit runs monthly — any broken or removed Wikimedia file gets flagged and replaced.
  • Schema validation on every commit — typos in taxonomy or numerical fields fail the build.
  • Internal link check — broken cross-references between entries are caught before publish.

Updates to these standards

This document is updated when the underlying process actually changes — not for cosmetic edits. Material changes update the Effective date and are linked from the homepage for 14 days.

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