Still Mill How-To Guide

Still Mill™ is a collaborative archive for historical photographs. Members document what is known about photographs and work together to research the people shown, using evidence rather than assumption.

You can begin in three ways:

• Browse without an account on Gallery and Collections.
• Create a free account on Login / Join to save favorites, follow activity, comment where permitted, and suggest an identity as a lead.
• Add a paid membership on Pricing if you want to contribute photographs or take part in formal research.

For a short conceptual overview of the whole process, see How It Works. This guide is the detailed, practical version.

Community Member is the free level, assigned automatically when you create an account. It includes:

• browsing public photographs;
• searching the archive;
• saving favorites;
• following activity;
• commenting where permitted; and
• suggesting an identity as a lead.

A suggested identity is only a lead. It never becomes official on its own. Formal research, structured evidence, case management, verification recommendations, and advancing an identification are limited to approved Identifiers.

A Contributor membership costs $10 monthly or $100 annually. An active Contributor membership enables photograph uploads.

• Choose monthly or annual billing on your Membership page. Contributor tools are enabled as soon as the membership is active.
• Everything included at the Community Member level stays available to you.
• Every photograph you submit enters the archive as Pending Review and stays private to you and Still Mill administrators until an administrator approves it.

An Identifier membership costs $25 monthly or $250 annually.

Formal research tools require both an active Identifier membership and administrator approval or invitation. Payment alone does not grant Identifier access, and approval is handled separately from billing. An Identifier membership also enables Contributor abilities.

Once both requirements are met, the Identifier workspace, case queue, and evidence tools appear in your account navigation.

1. Select Login or Join Now in the site header, or open the sign-in page.
2. Create an account with your email address, or use a supported sign-in provider.
3. Review and accept the Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, and Community Guidelines. Consent is required once, and again only if those policies are materially revised.
4. After signing in, open Workspace in the header to see your account.

Always use the same email address and the same sign-in method each time. Signing in a different way can create a separate account that will not carry your roles, membership, or photographs.

1. Open Gallery to search the archive.
2. Search by name, location, year, photographer, collection, or case number (for example, SM-0142).
3. Use the status filter buttons to narrow the results.
4. Select a photograph to open its detail page — the case file, with its Case Status banner, Leading Identification, Key Evidence, and Case Discussion.
5. Browse Collections to see photographs grouped together, and open a collection to view its photographs in the Gallery.

Only approved photographs appear in the public archive. Photographs awaiting review are visible only to the contributor and Still Mill administrators.

1. Open Upload. You will be asked to sign in, and to have an active Contributor membership.
2. Choose the clearest available scan. JPG, PNG, or TIFF up to 25MB. A flat, well-lit, full-frame scan is far more useful for research than a cropped or angled phone snapshot.
3. Add what is known. Use Title, Approximate date (for example, "c. 1892"), and Location. Use Description & known information for names, events, ownership, how the photograph came to you, its source, the photographer or studio mark, and any writing on the front or back — transcribed exactly as it appears.
4. Distinguish documented facts from memory or guesswork. Write, for example: "Back reads 'Elizabeth, 1892' in ink" (documented), "Family memory says this is my great-aunt" (memory), or "Possibly taken at the Charleston studio, based on the mount style" (informed guess).
5. Choose a Display frame for how the photograph is presented in the archive.
6. Confirm the Contributor and Photograph Rights acknowledgment when it is shown.
7. Review everything, then select Submit photograph.

Following its progress. The photograph enters as Pending Review, private to you and administrators. Once approved, it appears in the public archive. Track review status, activity, and the research pipeline in your Workspace, and read replies about a specific photograph in Messages, where each conversation is attached to one photograph.

Collection selection is not part of the upload form today. See the next section.

Collections group photographs by family, location, school, church, event, or institution, so related material can be discovered together. Public collections are listed on the Collections page, and opening one filters the Gallery to its photographs.

At present there is no self-service screen for creating a collection or assigning a photograph to one. To have a collection created, or a photograph placed in an existing collection, describe the grouping in the photograph's description when you upload it, or contact Still Mill at sce@thesynergyexperience.co. Institutions managing large collections can use the Institution inquiry form.

A photograph can move through seven research stages. A photograph may stop at any stage — not every photograph will be identified, and Still Mill does not promise that one will be.

1. 1UnknownNo identification work has begun. What is recorded is whatever the contributor supplied.
2. 2Research StartedAn approved Identifier has opened a case and begun looking into the photograph.
3. 3Evidence CollectedDocuments, records, or related photographs have been gathered and attached to the case.
4. 4Possible MatchA candidate identity has emerged, but the supporting evidence is still thin or untested.
5. 5Strong EvidenceMultiple independent sources point to the same identity, with no unresolved conflict.
6. 6VerifiedThe identification has been reviewed and confirmed against the documented evidence.
7. 7PreservedThe photograph, its evidence, and its research history are documented together so the story can be shared.

A case can move backward as well as forward. New evidence that contradicts a leading identification is expected, and the case status will change to reflect it.

• Case Discussion on a photograph's page is where community members share what they recognize or remember, where commenting is permitted.
• Messages in your account holds photograph-centered conversations: each thread belongs to one photograph, so context is never lost.
• Follow a photograph to see activity on it in your Workspace.

When you write, say where your information comes from — a document, a person, or a recollection. That single habit is what makes a discussion usable as research later.

1. Sign in and open Membership from your account (Workspace → Membership).
2. Select Manage membership. This opens Stripe's secure billing portal.
3. Plan changes, payment-method updates, invoices, and cancellations are all handled in that portal.
4. Back on the Membership page, Refresh status re-checks your current membership after a change.

Please keep these in mind:

• Use the same email address and sign-in method every time.
• Do not create a second account if access looks wrong. A second account will not inherit your membership and makes the problem harder to fix — contact us instead.
• If your membership status cannot be verified for a moment, membership options are hidden on purpose, to prevent a duplicate charge. Use Refresh status and try again shortly.
• Existing members change plans through the billing portal rather than buying a second membership.
• Identifier approval is separate from payment. Canceling or starting a payment does not by itself grant or remove approval.

Cancellation and refund terms are described in the Cancellation & Refunds policy.

• Upload only photographs you own or have permission to share. You confirm this in the Contributor and Photograph Rights acknowledgment before your first upload.
• Avoid publishing private or sensitive information about living people — addresses, medical details, contact information, or anything a living person would not expect to see published.
• Cite the source of factual claims. Name the record, document, or repository that supports a statement.
• Label family memory as memory until a document supports it. Family memory is valuable context and may provide an important research lead, but it should remain clearly labeled until supported by additional evidence.
• Preserve conflicting evidence instead of erasing it. A contradiction is part of the record and often the key to resolving the case.
• Contact Still Mill if removal or correction is needed at sce@thesynergyexperience.co.

Full details are in the Contributor & Photograph Rights, Privacy Policy, and Copyright & DMCA Policy.

Do I need to pay to use Still Mill?

No. Browsing, searching, saving favorites, following activity, commenting where permitted, and suggesting an identity as a lead are free.

Why can't I upload a photograph?

Uploading requires an active Contributor membership ($10 monthly or $100 annually). An Identifier membership includes Contributor abilities.

I paid for Identifier — why are the research tools still locked?

Identifier tools require an active Identifier membership and administrator approval or invitation. Approval is a separate step from payment.

Why is my photograph not showing in the Gallery?

New submissions are Pending Review and stay private until an administrator approves them.

Will my photograph be identified?

There is no guarantee. Cases advance only as far as the available evidence allows, and many photographs remain at an earlier stage.

My membership looks wrong. Should I sign up again?

No. Use Refresh status on the Membership page, and contact us if it still looks wrong. Creating a second account will not carry your membership.

We are a museum, library, or archive. Where do we start?

Use the Institution inquiry form for custom pricing, staff accounts, and onboarding.

Email sce@thesynergyexperience.co for account, membership, correction, or removal questions. Include the email address on your account and, where relevant, the photograph's case number.

Institutions can use the Institution inquiry form. Policy questions are answered in the Terms of Service and the other policy pages linked in the footer.