The Author May Stet

"The pen includes the right to disagree, never the right to erase the disagreement."

Separate the powers

Feedback is evidence, not a command. The authoring brain may accept a note, revise in another direction, or keep the wording. The last choice is legitimate only when the ledger records why.

Let state name the role

For every note, store a disposition: accepted, repaired, or stetted. A stet carries a reason tied to the note and current text. This prevents disagreement from becoming disappearance.

The convenient overreach

Automatically applying every suggestion makes the reviewer the hidden author. Silently ignoring notes makes review theater. A disposition ledger preserves both authority and accountability.

Authorship invariant. The pen includes the right to disagree, never the right to erase the disagreement.

Follow one sentence through four acts

Test “The Author May Stet” by tracing original authorship, translation authorship, blind review, and author revision. For each act list inputs, outputs, visible evidence, writable fields, and the proof handed forward. One brain may perform two roles at different times; the job and authority must still remain distinct.

Make the judgment

Take three review notes and record one accept, one repair, and one justified stet. If you cannot answer who chose the final wording in one sentence, provenance is too thin. A note that silently edits text or a stet whose reason disappears changes who holds the pen.

Narrow roles sharpen quality

Giving a reviewer every truth is not always an improvement. Restricting evidence and action makes the naturalness question answerable. The author uses that answer as material while retaining responsibility for the final choice.

Code

Require a reason for stet·python

VALID = {"accepted", "repaired", "stetted"}

def set_disposition(note_id, status, reason=None):
    if status not in VALID:
        raise ValueError("unknown disposition")
    if status == "stetted" and not (reason and reason.strip()):
        raise ValueError("stet requires a reason")
    return {"note_id": note_id, "status": status, "reason": reason}

print(set_disposition("note-7", "stetted", "deliberate repetition carries the cadence"))

Separate the powers

Let state name the role

The convenient overreach

Follow one sentence through four acts

Make the judgment

Narrow roles sharpen quality

Code

External links

Exercise

Progress

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