About Versions
A source can exist in more than one edition. The second edition of a book is not the first. A reprint is not the original printing. The version marker on a Description names that edition.
The version marker
The version marker is a short label on the Description. It is optional. Typical values name an edition, a printing, or a numbered release. Examples include a second edition, a second print, or a numbered software-style mark.
The marker is text that you write. The registry does not compute it. The registry does not order editions for you.
The version marker is not a new Description. It sits on the same record as the title and the authors. Use it when one Description already means one edition of the work.
Version is not the Version primitive
The six-idea chain has a Version primitive. That primitive is a particular edition of a Document. It is not live as its own record in the app today.
The version marker is the field you use now. It is a name for the edition on the Description. Do not treat the marker as a separate object in the registry. Read Core Ideas for the chain.
Version is not a disambiguator
Two works can share a title and still be different works. A review article can reuse the title of the paper it reviews. Those are two sources. You tell them apart with a disambiguator. You do not use the version marker for that.
Use the version marker when the work is the same work in a later edition. Use the disambiguator when the titles collide but the works are not the same. Read Tell Apart Two Sources with the Same Title.
When to set a version marker
Set a version marker when the edition matters to the citation. If a reader must know which edition you mean, put that name on the Description.
Leave the marker empty when the source has no useful edition name. Many papers, videos, and lectures have no edition.
You can keep the version marker private. Non-owners then do not see which edition you recorded. Read About Visibility.
Identity does not change
When you add or change the version marker, the Description keeps the same permanent identity. Other tools that already cite the record still point at it. You edit the marker. You do not mint a new record for a new spelling of the edition.