Discontinued does not mean erased.

The Lab preserves the scholarly record across supersession, discontinuation, correction and withdrawal.

Version permanence

Once an object is identified as a published release, its version identifier, citation metadata and correction/withdrawal history remain addressable. Updated data produce a new version rather than silently changing the meaning of the old citation.

Superseded versions

A superseded version remains available or, if storage/licensing prevents redistribution, retains a metadata tombstone describing version, date, successor, reason and access constraint.

Discontinued projects

The final public state is changed to ARCHIVED. The page records why active maintenance ended, the last maintained version, known limitations and any recommended successor.

External archives and DOI

Serious final outputs should use a persistent archive/identifier where feasible. A DOI or archive link is displayed only after it is actually issued; reserved or planned identifiers are not represented as published.

Source licensing

Archiving does not override third-party source licenses. Where redistribution is prohibited, the Lab preserves source metadata, transformations, hashes where lawful, retrieval information and code needed to reconstruct the permitted research perimeter.

Withdrawal

Withdrawal removes endorsement or active distribution when necessary but does not erase the fact that the object existed. See the withdrawal and retraction policy.