Can’t Explain — project brief

Author: Colin Dixon
Canonical domain: cantexplain.au
Also: cantexplain.com.au
Repository: github.com/coldix/cantexplain
Local path: /web/cantexplain
Updated: 2026-08-14

1. Project overview

Name: Can’t Explain

One-line mission:
A fun, viral, evidence-backed “hall of ridiculous claims” that collects low-evidence, high-emotion political accusations, pairs them with original sources and immutable timestamps, and presents them with humour. Inspired by Hanson Derangement Syndrome, but open to any figure or pattern that fits.

Tone & family:

Observational, slightly exaggerated, receipt-first humour (in the spirit of the Please Explain cartoons).
Part of the same family as ministryofdoubt.com (“Suspicion is not proof. Authority is not proof either. Show me the evidence.”).
Also sits alongside electiontracker.au, ozeunleashed.substack.com, and the broader Oze / Colin Dixon projects.
Cross-link where natural. Shared design language and values where practical (evidence, independence, checkable sources).

See FAMILY.md and TONE-GUIDE.md.

2. Confirmed tech stack (do not change)

Layer	Choice
Framework	Astro (static output)
Hosting / CDN	Cloudflare Workers Builds — assets-only Worker (same path as electiontracker.au). Pages remains a valid fallback.
Content	Markdown / MDX in `content/entries/` via Astro content collections
Evidence	Git-committed files in `/evidence/` — commit history is the immutable timestamp
Authoring	AI-assisted drafting; human approval only

Why this stack:

Already used on electiontracker.au and consistent with the family’s Cloudflare setup.
Astro is excellent for content-heavy, static-first sites with optional islands.
Official Cloudflare adapter exists, but this site does not use it. Official Astro and Cloudflare docs both say: if you are using Astro as a static site builder, you do not need @astrojs/cloudflare. That adapter is for on-demand rendering (SSR, server islands, sessions). Can’t Explain is a static collection with a client-side filter — no request-time compute.
Deploy config lives in wrangler.jsonc and points at ./dist. No main Worker entry, no bindings.

No other framework or host unless there is a clear, documented reason that outweighs consistency with existing projects.

3. Goals & non-goals

Goals

Fast, shareable, mobile-first collection of ridiculous claims with receipts.
Low ongoing maintenance (AI collects & drafts → owner approves).
Clear family membership with ministryofdoubt.com and the rest of the Oze / Dixon sites.
Launch with a solid Hanson-focused set, then expand sideways.

Non-goals

Not a daily news site or long-form essay platform.
Not pure rage or partisan campaigning.
Not a heavy user-generated content free-for-all at launch.

4. Content model (entry)

Each entry needs:

Claim / accusation (quote or screenshot)
Original source URL + date
Immutable evidence link (Git-committed file preferred)
Short humorous / observational caption
Tags (person, claim-type, year, etc.)
Optional media (cartoon, short clip, side-by-side)
Status: draft | published | featured

Launch themes:
Hanson Derangement Syndrome, “Gina’s Puppet”, “No Evidence Required”, then broader.

Exact fields and examples: CONTENT-MODEL.md.

5. Repo & local structure

cantexplain/
├── README.md
├── docs/
│   ├── BRIEF.md              ← this document
│   ├── CONTENT-MODEL.md
│   ├── TONE-GUIDE.md
│   ├── AI-PIPELINE.md
│   ├── FAMILY.md
│   └── ROADMAP.md
├── content/entries/
├── evidence/                 ← Git-timestamped screenshots / source files
├── public/
├── src/
├── scripts/                  ← entry helpers + (later) AI collection
├── astro.config.mjs
├── wrangler.jsonc
└── package.json

Local development root: /web/cantexplain.

6. Design & family notes

Keep visual and tonal consistency with the family where it makes sense (evidence emphasis, clean typography, dark/light theme — electiontracker.au already has this).
Can’t Explain is the fun, viral, claim-collection sibling — not a clone of ministryofdoubt.com.
Footer / “Elsewhere” links include ministryofdoubt.com, electiontracker.au, and other relevant Oze properties.
Homepage situates the site in the wider “show me the evidence” approach in one short paragraph, then gets on with the hall.

See FAMILY.md.

7. Launch criteria

Both domains resolve to the site (canonical = cantexplain.au)
Astro site deployed on Cloudflare
Homepage explains the concept cleanly
15–30 strong, well-sourced entries live
Every entry has original source + Git-timestamped (or equivalent) evidence
Search / basic filters
Mobile-friendly, fast, shareable
Family links present
Clear path for owner to add new entries

This scaffold stops before bulk content and before wiring the AI pipeline. Three labelled format-example entries exist so templates can be reviewed.

8. Scaffold status (2026-08-14)

Done in this pass:

Repository created at https://github.com/coldix/cantexplain
Astro static project + Cloudflare assets-only Worker config
Planning docs in docs/
Entry content model (Markdown / MDX collection)
/evidence/ convention with Git timestamps
Local npm run dev from /web/cantexplain
Homepage, hall listing, single-entry templates, about, method
Family cross-links and tone guidance

Stopped, as requested, before bulk content and before complex AI pipeline wiring.