Every listing on the platform — every studio, every artist, every supplier, every event — moves through the same pipeline. The pipeline exists for two reasons: to keep the platform’s standards uniform across listings, and to leave an audit trail that we, the listed business, and any reader can verify.
This page documents the pipeline. It is the operational companion to the editorial standards, which document the inclusion criteria. Standards say what qualifies. Methodology says how we determine that.
Stage 1 — Submission
A studio, artist, or supplier submits via /join/ — separate paths for artists, studios, and suppliers. Submissions land in our admin as private “Pending” records. They are not publicly visible, indexable, or searchable. Each submission captures:
- The business or artist’s name and contact
- The fields the submitter chose to provide — address, phone, Instagram, portfolio, hours, styles, booking links
- An IP address and user agent, used solely for spam mitigation
- An explicit consent acknowledgment — submitting requires checking the consent box
- Any sample images the submitter chose to attach
The submission record is preserved indefinitely as the start of the audit trail. If a listing is ever questioned, we can trace it back to the form submission and the consent timestamp.
Stage 2 — Verification
Before any submission becomes a public listing, we cross-check the submitted facts against publicly available sources and, where appropriate, against direct confirmation from the principal:
- Address verified against the studio’s own publicly published address (their site, their Google Business Profile, or equivalent public source)
- Phone verified by calling the number and confirming it rings to the business
- Hours verified against the studio’s posted hours (their site, their door, or a direct confirmation)
- Instagram verified by confirming the handle exists, is active, and is operated by the business (not a fan account)
- Artist affiliations verified by confirmation from the listed shop’s principal where applicable
- Image permissions verified through written confirmation. Every imported image carries source URL, permission note, and date in its admin audit meta.
If a fact cannot be verified, the field is left blank on the resulting public listing. We do not fill in details we cannot confirm.
Stage 3 — Editorial review
A verified submission then moves to editorial review against the inclusion criteria. The reviewer decides whether the listing meets the bar. The decision and reasoning are recorded in our internal audit meta. Where a submission is declined, the submitter is told why.
Editorial review is deliberately not a checklist. The standards are the floor — meeting them is necessary but not sufficient. We will decline a submission that technically meets the criteria if the broader editorial fit is wrong. Examples: a studio that operates honestly but does no actual tattoo work; an “artist” account that is a brand front, not a working artist; a supplier whose products are unrelated to tattooing.
Stage 4 — Listing creation
An approved submission is promoted to the appropriate public CPT — lvts_shop, lvts_artist, lvts_supplier, or lvts_event. The original submission record stays linked to the resulting listing via our internal audit meta, so the editorial chain of custody is preserved.
At promotion time, we apply:
- The Verified badge, with the date of verification recorded
- Any taxonomic tags that apply — styles, neighborhood
- Any structured meta the submission supplied — hours, walk-ins policy, price band, booking link
- Permitted images, transferred from the submission and reparented to the new listing
The new listing is then publicly accessible. The listing carries a Last Reviewed date matching the verification date.
Stage 5 — Ongoing audit
Verification is not a one-time event. Every Verified listing carries a Last Reviewed date. On a rolling cadence (currently quarterly), we re-confirm:
- The address still resolves to the business
- The phone still rings to the business
- The Instagram handle is still active and still operated by the business
- The listed hours are still being kept
- Featured / Founding designations are still appropriate
If a re-confirmation fails, the Verified badge is removed and the listing is marked for review. We will not carry stale verification forward. Listings flagged in audit are typically resolved within two business days — corrected, removed, or escalated to the listed party for input.
What an audit trail looks like (technical)
For readers curious about the implementation: every public listing carries three pieces of private audit meta, never displayed on the front end but always recorded in the admin:
_lvts_source_url— the original source from which the listing’s facts were drawn_lvts_image_permission_note— the permission scope, including grantor and date_lvts_last_verified_date— the most recent date the listing’s facts were confirmed
This audit meta lives on every CPT post on the platform — shops, artists, suppliers, events, even the platform’s editorial landing pages and image attachments. The trail is internal but it exists, and it is the substrate every external claim on the platform ultimately rests on.
Edge cases
Studio closure. If a listed studio closes, we mark the listing inactive within five business days of confirmation. The page remains accessible (closed studios are still useful information for readers researching a name) but is clearly labeled and removed from active listing surfaces.
Artist moves shops. If a listed artist moves to a new studio, we update the affiliation on the artist’s listing. The audit meta records the change date. Previous shop affiliations are preserved in the audit trail but not displayed.
Disputed facts. If a listed party disputes a fact on their listing, we update or remove the disputed claim while the dispute is being resolved. We default to the listed party’s version unless we have written confirmation otherwise from another authoritative source.
Removal requests. Any listed studio or artist may request removal at any time. Removal is honored within two business days of confirmed identity. We do not require a reason.