diff --git a/api/media.ts b/api/media.ts
index 0b67b19..67d947c 100644
--- a/api/media.ts
+++ b/api/media.ts
@@ -10,8 +10,8 @@ import { readSettings } from './settings';
  *   <root>/
  *     website/          the checkout
  *     media/
- *       user/           what people upload, untouched
- *       treated/        what comes back out of conversion
+ *       originals/      what people upload, untouched. nothing regenerates these
+ *       derived/        made from originals/, and safe to wipe
  *
  * ── BESIDE the checkout, never inside it ──
  *
@@ -25,16 +25,22 @@ import { readSettings } from './settings';
  * The two live under one root so a backup of the root is the whole site — the code and the things it
  * serves — which is the property that makes the root worth being a setting at all.
  *
- * ── The asymmetry between the two halves ──
+ * ── The names ARE the asymmetry, and that is the whole reason for them ──
  *
- * `user/` is ORIGINAL. Nothing regenerates it; if it is lost, somebody has to be asked for the file
- * again, and they may not have it.
+ * `originals/` cannot be regenerated. If it is lost, somebody has to be asked for the file again, and
+ * they may not have it.
  *
- * `treated/` is DERIVED. Every file in it can be made again from the one it came from, so it is the
- * half that is safe to delete, safe to rebuild, and safe for a job to overwrite without asking.
+ * `derived/` can. Every file in it is reproducible from the one it came from, so it is the half that is
+ * safe to delete, safe to rebuild, and safe for a job to overwrite without asking.
  *
- * Nothing here enforces that yet — no code deletes either — but it is the fact that should decide
- * every rule written about them later, so it is recorded before the first one is.
+ * They were called `user/` and `treated/` for about an hour. Both named the wrong thing: `user` said
+ * who put the file there, which stops distinguishing anything the moment a job writes one, and read
+ * like it should hold a folder per person. `treated` said what had happened to it, which stops being
+ * informative as soon as there is more than one kind of treatment.
+ *
+ * These say which one you can afford to lose. Nothing enforces it yet — no code here deletes anything —
+ * but every rule written about these two later should start from that sentence, and a name that carries
+ * it is a rule that cannot be forgotten.
  */
 
 const DIR_NAME = 'media';
@@ -46,8 +52,8 @@ const DIR_NAME = 'media';
  * "ready" about a structure that is missing a folder the creator stopped making.
  */
 export const MEDIA_CHILDREN = [
-  { name: 'user', hint: 'What people upload, untouched' },
-  { name: 'treated', hint: 'What comes back out of conversion' },
+  { name: 'originals', hint: 'Uploaded, untouched — nothing regenerates these' },
+  { name: 'derived', hint: 'Made from originals — safe to wipe and rebuild' },
 ] as const;
 
 export type MediaChildStatus = {
diff --git a/manifest.ts b/manifest.ts
index a0fbf78..3810679 100644
--- a/manifest.ts
+++ b/manifest.ts
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ import type { PluginManifest } from '@@/plugins/manifest';
  */
 export const manifest: PluginManifest = {
   publisher: 'officerdev',
-  version: '2026.08.29.15',
+  version: '2026.08.29.16',
   platform: '>=1.0.0',
 
   label: 'Fofos',
diff --git a/web/MediaFolder.tsx b/web/MediaFolder.tsx
index 4bc65c2..d377d4c 100644
--- a/web/MediaFolder.tsx
+++ b/web/MediaFolder.tsx
@@ -15,8 +15,8 @@ import { readableError } from './errors';
  *
  * ── The children are listed, and the button repairs ──
  *
- * `user/` and `treated/` are shown whether or not they are there, so a structure that is missing one
- * reads as INCOMPLETE rather than as fine. The button follows: "Create" when there is nothing, "Create
+ * `originals/` and `derived/` are shown whether or not they are there, so a structure that is missing
+ * one reads as INCOMPLETE rather than as fine. The button follows: "Create" when there is nothing, "Create
  * missing" when part of it exists. It is `mkdir -p` on every path either way, so pressing it can only
  * add and can never fail on something already correct.
  */
@@ -93,9 +93,8 @@ export const MediaFolder = ({ rootPath }: { rootPath: string }) => {
             <p className="text-xs text-muted-foreground">Not created yet.</p>
           )}
 
-          {/* The structure, always — the folders that are missing are the point of showing it. Named
-              with what they hold, because "user" and "treated" say who and what happened rather than
-              what goes in them. */}
+          {/* The structure, always — the missing folders are the point of showing it. The hint beside
+              each name carries the one distinction that matters: which of the two can be rebuilt. */}
           <ul className="pt-1">
             {status.children.map((child) => (
               <li key={child.name} className="flex items-baseline gap-2 text-xs">