What this is

Decoded is a library of independent reference sites. Each one takes a single subject and tries to explain the whole of it in plain language — no prior vocabulary assumed, no argument being sold.

One subject, one site

Rather than one sprawling site covering everything badly, each subject gets its own encyclopedia with its own structure, its own vocabulary and its own URLs. A guide to the dachshund's back and a guide to the Sumerian creation myths have nothing useful to say to each other, so they do not share a navigation bar.

They do share a domain. Every site lives under decoded.info at its own path, so the whole library is one place, and this page is its front door.

How they are written

The house style is plain but not thin. Terms are defined where they first appear; disagreements between sources are reported as disagreements rather than flattened into one confident answer; and where a subject is genuinely contested, the sites say so instead of picking a side.

On subjects where people hold deep commitments — the religion sites especially — the writing is descriptive rather than evaluative. The aim is an account a member of the tradition would recognise as fair.

What they are not

Nothing in this library is professional advice. The health, veterinary, legal and financial material is background reading — the kind that makes a conversation with a qualified professional a better one. It is not a substitute for that conversation.