Editorial standards

Evidence

• Every date, number, name, quotation, and causal claim links to the source it came from, with a page, paragraph, or document locator where one exists.
• Each published claim is recorded in a claim ledger: the precise statement, the source, the passage that supports it, the type of evidence, its limits, and the date it was last checked. 708 claims are recorded today.
• A claim we cannot verify is held in a research queue and does not appear in public copy until it is verified.
• Primary sources come first. A modern museum description of an old object is cited as a modern description, not as a primary document.
• Where historians disagree, we say so and show the disagreement rather than choosing a side silently.

Quotations

A quotation appears only in its exact wording, with a source where a reader can find it. If the exact wording cannot be confirmed at the source, we paraphrase and cite instead. We never write words in a historical person's voice, and we never present a reconstruction as a document.

Animal evidence

For animal behavior we name the species, the population, the setting (wild or captive), and the kind of evidence: direct observation, forensic inference, experiment, or a proposed explanation. When we could read only an abstract, we say so and claim nothing beyond it. We describe behavior in behavioral terms, not with human criminal motives.

Images and illustrations

• Historical images come from named collections whose records state no known restrictions on publication. Each carries its creator, date, holding institution, collection identifier, and rights statement, all listed on Sources.
• Illustrations drawn for this site are labeled as illustrations. They never pose as historical artifacts.
• The dolphin is a modern mark. It is never presented as a historical emblem.
• The current logos of the two major parties appear only in the home page drawing, to identify each party, credited to their owners with a no-affiliation line. They are never used as this party's mark.
• Studies carry their design and limits. A small or early study is never presented as settled.
• On suicide and self-harm we follow safe messaging guidelines: no method details, no sensational wording, no causal claim the source does not make, lawsuits stated as allegations, and the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline on every page that mentions it.

How AI tools are used

Research and drafting on this site use AI tools. That is why every claim carries its source and its ledger entry: the work is meant to be checked, and you can check it. A claim no one could trace back to a source does not get published.

Independence

An independent initiative founded by Mike Millett. Unaffiliated with any political party, candidate or campaign. It accepts no donations and runs no advertising.

Both sides

Democrats and Republicans are quoted with equal weight and the same evidence standard. Where leaders are quoted, they alternate, Democrat then Republican. In the old fights, both sides are quoted in their own published words, and neither is labeled left or right.

Corrections

Report an error on the corrections page. When we change a fact, the page shows a new "Updated" date and the correction is listed on the corrections page with what changed.