Institution · editorial and source principles
Editorial and source principles
What we count as evidence, and what we do not
This archive separates saying that a claim is true from showing how it is known. The rules below apply to every entry; when they are violated, the entry is withdrawn.
Four levels of evidence
Every line carries its own level. A dossier may hold all four at once; the reader can see how solid each sentence stands.
Verifiable in a primary source, with page number. At least two independent records agree.
Example: the session date in a court record.
One primary source or a reliable secondary source; no contradicting record.
Example: a figure appearing in a single provincial dispatch.
Sources contradict each other. Both sides are given with citations; the archive takes no side.
Example: the Guti-Kurd continuity debate.
A widespread narrative without documentary basis. Set apart not because it is false, but because it has no record.
Example: founding narratives with no traceable source.
Source hierarchy
Manuscript, minutes, registry, deed, period newspaper, audio recording, photograph. Quotations come from here; a facsimile is added where possible.
Peer-reviewed work, cited monograph. Used insofar as it leads to a primary source; on its own it does not produce certainty.
Narrative, memoir, oral history. Valuable, but not evidence on its own; the person and date of the account are recorded.
Translation and distortion note
Where a Turkish, Arabic or Persian translation differs from the original copy, the quotation is given from the original and the difference is shown in a separate note. Omission, addition and term-shifting are marked under three separate headings.
A sentence lost in translation stays where it was lost: the dossier holds both the translation and the original, side by side with page numbers.
Independence
- No money is taken from any party, institution, state or fund; income comes from reader donations and publishing.
- No source is bent for any political line; a record is given as it is, whoever it serves.
- No advertising or sponsored content; donors have no influence on entries.
- Personal rights: claims about living persons are published only with S1 or S2 sources, with a right of reply.
The correction path
When an error is reported, the entry is examined within 72 hours. If corrected, the date, what changed and the reporter’s name (with permission) are listed under the dossier. No silent corrections.
Do you hold a copy or a citation that would correct this archive?
Report a correction