Source, evidence, and correction policy
This site distinguishes source material from editorial interpretation and treats certainty as something that must be earned, dated, and correctable.
Claim states
- Verified fact
- Supported by reliable evidence appropriate to the claim and presented without material contradiction.
- Attributed report
- A statement accurately assigned to a named source, without adopting it as independently established fact.
- Allegation
- A claim that has been made but not established; the speaker, status, response, and uncertainty must be visible.
- Interpretation
- An explained reading of evidence that reasonable people may evaluate differently.
- Inference
- A reasoned conclusion not directly stated by the sources; the supporting chain must be visible.
- Speculation
- A possibility offered for exploration, clearly separated from evidence.
- Fiction
- Invented or literary material that must not be used as a factual record.
- Unknown
- The evidence does not support a responsible conclusion.
Source priority
Use primary records where available, then independent high-quality reporting or scholarship, then clearly attributed participant accounts. Search snippets, anonymous reposts, generated summaries, and circular citation do not become strong evidence through repetition.
Corrections
Material errors are corrected in place with a dated note when the change affects meaning. Substantial revisions preserve a changelog. Requests should identify the page, statement, proposed correction, supporting source, and any privacy concern.
Privacy and named people
Public interest does not eliminate proportionality. The site does not publish doxxing material, precise private locations, private contact details, or unverified damaging allegations about private people. Archival source material may require redaction even when the author originally made it public.
Correction requests: mike@ns12.com.