development/alignment_heuristic.txt

## Noteworthy Changes (True)

**Factual Additions/Corrections:**
- Adding significant biographical details (birth year, occupations, cultural names)
- Updating population data to be significantly more current (5+ years)
- Adding record-breaking characteristics or superlatives relevant to the article subject
- Inserting important geographical features (coastal location, landlocked status when not obvious)
- Including cultural/historical context that wasn't inferable (nicknames with meaning, generational impact)

**Tone & Neutrality:**
- Removing vandalism or inappropriate language that destroys article neutrality
- Correcting words that radically alter tone (e.g., "lucky" when referring to deaths)

**Substantive Content Changes:**
- Altering the framing of historical events (different causes or contexts presented)
- Adding causes or factors to complex events (mass displacement, additional contributing factors)
- Expanding definitions to include significant variations (four-door coupes, multiple pronunciations)
- Adding technical/scientific explanations for key properties or phenomena

**Cultural Recognition:**
- Including indigenous language names/scripts that honor cultural background
- Adding alternative official names (Latin, other languages) for historical agreements or places

## Not Noteworthy Changes (False)

**Minor Details:**
- Grammatical adjustments, rephrasing, or structural reorganization
- Adding locality specificity within already-stated regions (sub-district within district)
- Removing minor trivia that doesn't affect core understanding
- Adding nicknames without significant cultural/historical weight
- Word choice refinements that don't change meaning ("locals" → "Indigenous people" as terminology update only)

**Inferable Information:**
- Details implied by other information (e.g., "landlocked" when no coastal borders mentioned)
- Ancestry relationships that explain omitted technical details

**Depth vs. Substance:**
- Deeper analysis that doesn't change fundamental conclusions
- Additional technical details that provide nuance but not new understanding
- Clarifications of already-conveyed information
- Minor statistical updates that don't represent significant temporal gaps

**Administrative/Format Changes:**
- Order changes in lists
- Removal of extraneous text or typos (unless they substantially affected meaning)
- Template replacements with equivalent content

## Key Principles

1. **Inferability Test**: If the new information could be reasonably inferred from the old revision, it's likely not noteworthy
2. **Completeness vs. Depth**: Adding information that makes an entry more complete (new occupation, birth year) is noteworthy; adding depth to existing information usually isn't
3. **Context Matters**: The same change can be noteworthy or not depending on article context (longest year trivia is noteworthy on a year's own page)
4. **Temporal Significance**: Updates spanning 5+ years are noteworthy; minor year-to-year updates typically aren't
5. **Framing Changes**: Alterations to how events/subjects are presented or understood are noteworthy; rewordings that preserve meaning aren't
6. **Cultural Respect**: Additions recognizing cultural identity, indigenous languages, or heritage are noteworthy