How a ridiculous story earns a Blappos card
Blappos is illustrated satire built on real reporting. The joke is ours; the underlying event is not. This page documents the publication gates used to keep those two things visibly separate.
1. The event must be real and attributable
Every story begins with a specific, dated article from a named news organization or an authoritative primary source. We reject anonymous reposts, social screenshots without corroboration, invented summaries and links that point only to a publication homepage. The permanent story page links directly to the reporting used.
2. Duplicate-event check
Before publication, the candidate is compared with the complete Blappos inventory by source URL, normalized headline, date, location, named people and organizations, and the underlying event. A new article about the same incident is not a new story.
3. Fact, significance and satire stay separate
Every story uses three labeled sections. What happened summarizes reported facts. Why it matters explains the real context without inflating it. The Blappos angle is the joke and is identified as commentary. Satirical wording and illustrated scenes must not be mistaken for additional reporting.
4. Illustration disclosure
Blappos card art is an original, AI-assisted editorial illustration in a deliberately distressed souvenir-magnet style. It is not documentary photography, evidence, or a literal reconstruction. The location header and punchline are editorial design elements.
5. Sources outrank virality
Strangeness alone is not enough. If the date, place, central claim or quoted number cannot be supported by the linked source, the story is held back. When stronger reporting materially changes a published fact, the page should be corrected rather than quietly rewritten to preserve the joke.
The public Ridiculous News Verification Ledger records the latest story-level checks, stronger primary references, explicit limits and the exact point where reported fact becomes commentary.
6. Commercial links never become facts
Amazon products are selected only when their connection to the exact event is immediate and specific. They are commercial links, not reporting, endorsements or evidence. Product cards carry the Amazon Associate disclosure, and availability can change. Physical Blappos magnets are printed to order through Printify and are presented separately from the sourced story.
7. Publication checklist
A daily story is not complete until its source URL works, its ID and event are unique, all three editorial sections are present, the square artwork passes visual review, its exact physical magnet is purchasable, three relevant product cards have matching images and direct destinations, the permanent page is in the sitemap, and the deployed page works on the live site.
Corrections
Corrections should preserve a transparent distinction between the original satire and the verified record. To report a factual, sourcing, attribution or product-image problem, include the permanent Blappos story URL, the statement at issue and a reliable supporting source in a public correction request. Commercial disagreements with a punchline are not factual corrections, but clear factual errors are.
What this standard does not promise
Blappos does not claim firsthand reporting, personal product testing, guaranteed product availability, or documentary accuracy in its artwork. A source link can also change after publication; when discovered, broken or materially altered sources should be replaced with an equivalent authoritative citation or clearly noted.