How we track a claim

R1 Progress, review and unresolved claims

We keep evidence status, follow-up and resolution separate. A claim can develop while its evidence status remains Reported. A material update needs a previously unused independent origin and a new verifiable fact, test, availability change or independent corroboration. Ten reports repeating one source are still one origin. New first-hand official material can qualify; repeated statements, routine checks and copy edits cannot.

Undated claims are reviewed every 30 days. After 90 days without material evidence they become Unresolved · stale: retained and unresolved, rather than false. Fresh independent material can restore Developing. A routine review does not restart the material clock. New progress does not reset the age used for coverage metrics. Unknown historical times remain unknown; a date is not presented as a precise observation.

R2 Freeze the deadline in the original statement

Deadlines are anchored to the original source publication time, never the time we collected it. The source time must be verified and linked to the frozen conditions. Use the source’s explicit or verified timezone. If the publication time or timezone cannot be established, timing stays unresolved rather than being counted as a success or failure.

For example, “this week” published on Tuesday, October 27, 2026 ends at the end of Sunday, November 1 ET. The exclusive boundary is November 2 at 05:00 UTC because daylight saving time changes that weekend. The next instant is outside the commitment.

R3 Expired and false are different outcomes

For an observable event, no matching occurrence by the stated deadline is Expired. If an event happened but contradicted the original scope, the evidence may support False or Partially confirmed instead. An unobservable private event with insufficient evidence is Indeterminate; silence alone is not proof that it is false.

A deadline starts a review, not an automatic public verdict. The evidence-gathering window is at most 48 hours and does not extend the commitment. Evidence arriving late can still demonstrate an on-time occurrence. An event that actually happens after the deadline retains the original Expired commitment and is marked Confirmed late. Undated claims cannot be Expired. Overdue unreviewed cases remain in the eligible population.

R4 Timing is calculated, not chosen

Resolutions are Confirmed within scope, False, Partially confirmed, Expired or Indeterminate. Evidence remains one of Unconfirmed, Reported, Confirmed and Debunked. Expired is a case outcome, not a fifth evidence label. Missed deadline is the reader-facing event wording.

Editors enter an actual matching occurrence in America/New_York time. The system converts it to UTC and calculates On time, Confirmed late, Expired, Pending, Unresolved or Not applicable. Nonexistent spring times are rejected; repeated autumn times require a first/second occurrence. Incompatible evidence and resolution combinations are rejected when publishing.

R5 Publish meaningful changes, keep historical backfills quiet

Material progress, resolution, reopening, corrections and stale or reactivation records are traceable even when the evidence label does not change. Pages and object feeds do not wait for an email batch. Routine reviews and first collection are not change alerts.

Today shows at most five objects, one row per object per ET calendar day. Reader event words and the current evidence context appear there; full transitions remain in object history. Gone quiet (stale) appears in history and the changes feed, rather than taking a Today slot.

Evidence changes, resolutions, reopening, corrections and live stale records use immediate alerts. Progress-only alerts combine by object and ET day for 08:00 ET the following day. Progress already covered by an immediate resolution or correction is not sent again. Historical imports and rule backfills have no live publication time and never become current alerts, even if processed later. Newly published independent material, genuinely new deadline results and corrections follow the normal live rules.

R6 Show the denominator and unresolved population

Factual confirmation rate is true / (true + false). On-time delivery is on_time / (on_time + expired + late); undated claims are excluded from this timing measure. Expired and late are on its failure side.

Case resolution coverage uses the same eligible population for its numerator and denominator: deadline cases whose collection window has matured, plus undated claims tracked for at least 90 days. Stale, Developing and Indeterminate remain visible in the denominator and do not count as conclusive resolutions. Deadline-review coverage is only a subset measure. Claim IDs and commitment IDs are different counting units; do not combine them. A zero denominator is shown as unavailable, never 0%.

R7 Keep the original record and correction trail

Original statements, conditions, deadlines and source attribution are frozen as versions. A new promise does not overwrite an old missed commitment, and repeated citations do not create extra scoring opportunities. Reopening and correction preserve earlier verdicts and stale records.

Withdrawing our confirmation does not automatically erase the reporting behind a claim or restore a previous label. If credible independent reporting remains, the claim returns to Reported. If that report has also been withdrawn or no longer has a reliable basis, the claim returns to Unconfirmed. The correction explains which evidence failed and which reporting still stands; a withdrawn confirmation is not proof that the claim is false.

A later Confirmed evidence label does not erase a missed deadline. Visible answers and machine-readable descriptions must retain that timing result. If new evidence proves an earlier Expired judgment was mistaken, an explicit reviewed correction links the replacement and original record. We describe results in the tracked sample; we do not predict whether an unverified rumor will become true.