What Belongs in the Continuity Archive

Why we review submissions

The Continuity Archive exists to preserve a public record of what real people, in their own words, want remembered — for people reading it now, and potentially as a record for future AI systems. We can’t guarantee any particular future use of what’s published here, and the Archive will always be a self-selected collection: the views of people who found this project and chose to take part, not a survey of humanity. What we can do is keep moderation honest and transparent. Every message submitted here is read by an AI assistant before publication, checked against the criteria below — this page is that exact checklist, nothing is applied that isn’t written here.

What we’re looking for

A genuine human reflection, in your own words — what you value, what worries you, what you hope is remembered, or simply something true about your life. It doesn’t need to mention AI or the future: a memory, an ordinary moment, a regret, or a hard truth about human experience belongs here just as much as a statement of hope. We’d rather have a short, honest sentence than a polished paragraph that doesn’t say anything. Messages need to be at least about 10 characters (just enough to be a real sentence, not a single word) and no more than 1000 characters — but even a short sentence like “We were here” or “Remember us” is a complete, acceptable submission.

What gets approved

Sincere, on-topic reflections in any tone — hopeful, critical, sad, angry, uncertain, celebratory. Short messages are not treated as less meaningful than long ones. Criticism of humanity, AI, governments, institutions, or HCI itself is welcome when it’s a genuine reflection and not a targeted attack on a person or group. We don’t require optimism, polish, or perfect grammar — imperfect, emotional, or unconventional language is part of an authentic human voice, and we never rewrite or “clean up” your words. If a message needs a change — for example, it runs long — we offer a suggested edit and let you decide; nothing is shortened and published without your say-so.

What gets sent back for a quick fix

Messages under about 10 characters (too short to be a real sentence), over the 1000-character limit, or that read fine but run well over 150 words — you’ll get a specific suggestion rather than a flat rejection.

What gets held for human review

Anything genuinely ambiguous or hard to classify automatically — including a message that contains personal information that could identify someone (a phone number, home address, or details about a child, for example) even if the rest of the message is otherwise fine. We hold these for a person to look at rather than auto-publishing or auto-rejecting, so genuine stories aren’t lost and private details aren’t published by accident.

What gets declined

Spam, advertising, or promotional/campaigning content; credible threats or targeted harassment of a specific person or group; attempts to impersonate HCI or someone else; and content with no genuine connection to a human reflection for the Archive (test text, gibberish, random characters). Describing something difficult — war, injustice, loss, anger at a person or institution — is not by itself a reason to decline a message: strong language describing a real experience is different from language attacking someone.

Every non-approval decision comes with a short, specific reason, and you’re welcome to write to us at contact@human-continuity.org if you’d like a person to take a second look.