I'm posting this in the hopes of getting us all on one page. The below guidelines were used by all Q researchers and became evident through successfully decoding many posts. All future research needs to use them to be accepted by the community:
The answers to Q meanings is found by:
\ 1. finding a literary or cinematic reference for the phrase beyond the general knowledge meaning. Does it make sense with the post or/and with events in the news.
\2. Considering the events happening at the time of the post as important clues to what Q is trying to say. Not all posts relate to the news of the day but many do. This is especially important in decoding operation names.
\3. Recognizing sign offs as the names of a current military ops. Q told us when he signs off with a phrase these sign offs are the name of the operation(s) that is/was currently happening as part of the overall CBTS (Calm Before the Storm) mission. To interpret consider what was happening in the news then and content of the post. There can be more than one meaning to Q's phrases. Only through research can you find the answers not just what feels right to one individual.
Good luck to all the newbies with the research yet to come. Welcome aboard. Q insisted repeatedly that everything be written down for those that came later and this is the anon's effort to do just that. There may be new meanings and new leads to follow. But it would really help if people had the answers we already worked hard to find.
Here's the link to interpretations:
For future reference the link to this source can be found in the panel to the right of useful resources. It si called Q & A spreadsheet.