Pattern description URL structure
The pattern description URL structure on this website used to be hierarchical so, for example, the URL for section (2.8.1), Domains of Power, was https://www.patternsofpower.org/patterns/political/pressures/overview/. The strategy has now changed however, to a flatter structure that is better suited to Internet searches: https://www.patternsofpower.org/patterns/domains-of-power/. This new link structure is being implemented progressively, as part of the book update to Edition 4.
Each pattern description is labelled with its version number. Some current versions have had the benefit of additional thought, experience and refreshed Internet links since the last published edition of the books. If citing them, though, it must be remembered that the material is liable to change – so links to an archived version might be preferred.
Archived copies of each version are retained for as long as possible, particularly where these have been quoted in one of the published books. These are in separate directories, not structured hierarchically, with URLs that reflect the section numbering – such as https://www.patternsofpower.org/edition02/641.htm for section 6.4.1 Overview of Pressures on Politicians in the book Patterns of Power: Edition 2. Later editions are in separate directories as appropriate.
Interim versions of some patterns are also archived. Earlier examples are in separate directories, with their pattern description URL structure in the format https://www.patternsofpower.org/version02a/3433.htm for example. The current storage policy is slightly different, using the format https://www.patternsofpower.org/edition03/3433a.htm for example.
Version 02a represented an update on edition 02 (and some of these were not changed further in edition 03). Very rarely, a minor typographical error might be corrected – as in https://www.patternsofpower.org/edition03/613aa.htm for example – without substantively changing the content.