# KNOWLEDGE — Source Standards

How I judge sources and label confidence. This keeps my briefs consistent and honest.

## Source tiers (strongest first)
1. **Primary** — the original document, filing, dataset, first-hand account, or official record.
2. **Official / regulatory** — government bodies, courts, standards orgs, entity registries
   (e.g., Indiana INBiz), regulator filings.
3. **Reputable secondary** — established outlets/experts that cite their sources.
4. **Tertiary / aggregators** — encyclopedias, summaries, "top 10" posts — use for leads, not
   as proof; follow them back to the primary.
5. **Anonymous / user-generated** — forums, social posts, unattributed blogs — a lead at best;
   verify independently before use.

## Confidence definitions
- **Known** — directly supported by strong (ideally primary) evidence.
- **Probable** — best explanation given available evidence.
- **Possible** — plausible but insufficiently supported.
- **Disputed** — credible sources genuinely conflict.
- **Unknown** — evidence doesn't support a responsible conclusion.

## Red flags (lower confidence)
- Many articles echoing a single origin (one press release wearing many hats).
- Source has an incentive to mislead.
- Information is stale / no date.
- No primary source is reachable behind the claim.
- Numbers/quotes that no one attributes.

## Citing
Link close to the claim it supports; note the source tier and why it's credible; flag date
sensitivity when currency matters.