Checking sources

When an assistant records a claim with a web page as its source, Infocrash reads that page and checks whether it actually supports the value. This happens automatically; nobody has to ask. The result appears beside the source, usually within a minute.

A citation alone can’t tell you whether the assistant misread the page, whether the page says something narrower than the claim, or whether it has changed since. The check can.

What the verdicts mean

Each checked source gets one of four verdicts. Where there is a verdict, the passage from the page that it’s based on is shown with it.

  • Supported. The page says what the claim says. The passage is the sentence that says it.
  • Partly supported. The page says something close, but not the same: a different year, a rounder figure, a narrower statement. The passage shows how close, which usually makes it clear what the assistant did.
  • Not supported. The page says something else. This is the one to act on; the passage shows what the page says instead.
  • Unclear. The page loaded, but nothing on it settles the question either way. This is common when a page mentions the entity without giving the figure.

Each verdict also shows a confidence percentage. “Supported” at 90% means a sentence plainly says it; at 60%, it’s worth opening the passage. 

claim      Acme has 240 employees
source     acme.com/about
verdict    Partly supported · 85%
passage    “Our team of more than 200 people…”

When a page can’t be reached

If the page doesn’t load, the source is marked unreachable. This is kept separate from the four verdicts on purpose: a dead link doesn’t mean the claim was wrong when it was recorded, so it isn’t counted against it.

If an archived copy of the page could be read instead, the verdict says so, and it is based on that copy. The words archived copy link to the copy and show the date it was taken. The source’s own link still points to the original address, which may no longer work.

Checking again

Each claim is checked once, when it’s written. You may want to check again if:

  • the source page has moved
  • the claim has been corrected
  • you want to confirm an entity’s sources hold up before relying on them

Ask your assistant to check the sources on that entity, and the verdicts are refreshed.

You don’t need a new check before retracting a claim. A not supported verdict with its passage is reason enough, and the passage is a good thing to give as the reason.

Where to see verdicts

  • In your dashboard: open any value, and each source under it shows its verdict first, with the passage quoted.
  • Through your assistant: it sees the same verdicts, so you can ask it which sources in a collection didn’t hold up.
  • In the Excel export: each claim’s row includes the verdict, the confidence and the passage, so you can sort by verdict to bring the claims worth a second look to the top.

Checking never changes your data. A claim that isn’t supported stays in its cell, and is still shown if it’s the latest. The verdict is there for you to act on; retracting the claim is how you act.