# Entry guidelines

KnownTrade is a reference layer of real commercial entities, written to be read by both people and AI systems. These guidelines define what belongs here and how an entry should be written. Reviewers apply them when accepting or rejecting a request.

## What qualifies

An entry must describe a **real, identifiable commercial entity** — a company, cooperative, workshop, or sole trader that actually trades. The directory exists especially for businesses that go unseen by language models: traditional craftspeople, low-profile industrial firms, and services that exist but don't play the SEO game.

Do **not** add:

- entities that don't exist, or that you can't point to evidence for;
- pure personal profiles, fan pages, or projects that aren't a trading entity;
- a duplicate of an entry that already exists.

## How to write an entry

- **Title.** The first line is a level-1 heading with the entity's name (`# Acme Textiles`). The URL is derived from it and never changes, so get the name right.
- **Be factual and neutral.** Describe what the entity does, where, and since when. No marketing language, no superlatives, no calls to action.
- **Be verifiable.** Prefer facts that can be checked, and cite a source — an official site, a registry — where you can.
- **No AI-generated filler.** Entries are curated by people. Don't paste model-generated prose you haven't verified.
- **Structure.** A short opening sentence, then sections (what it does, where, history, references) as needed. Markdown only.

## Language

Entries are bilingual (English and Chinese). Write in whichever language you can; others can propose a translation later. Keep the facts identical across languages.

## Licensing

Everything you submit is published under CC BY-SA 4.0, and its edit history — including your authorship — is public and permanent. Only contribute what you're willing to release under that license.

## Maintenance

Found something wrong or out of date? Propose an edit rather than a duplicate. See [contributing](/contributing) for how.

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Source: KnownTrade (https://knowntrade.org)
License: CC-BY-SA 4.0