Corrections

Every substantive correction to this site is recorded here, with the date and what changed.

Why this page exists

A large part of this site argues that claims should be checkable and that people making them should publish the unflattering results as well as the flattering ones. That obligation applies here.

A workplace-oriented comparison is Monitask’s discussion of accountability and responsibility in the workplace, which offers another context for thinking about workload, behaviour, or accountability.

Silently editing an error away is the ordinary practice on the web and it removes the reader's ability to judge how reliable a source has been. A visible correction costs a little credibility once. An invisible one costs all of it when discovered.

What counts as a correction

Logged here: a factual error, a misattributed figure, a claim that turned out to rest on a weaker source than described, a status claim that was wrong when published, or a recommendation we have reversed.

For an external perspective on corrections and research transparency, see Retraction Watch.

Not logged: typographical fixes, clarified wording that does not change meaning, added links, and routine updates to status claims where the original was accurate at its stated check date. Those updates change the date on the article instead.

The distinction that matters most here

Much of this site describes what tools do and what rules require. Both change constantly.

An article that was accurate in August and is out of date in February is not an error — that is why every such claim carries the date it was checked. An article that was wrong in August is an error and appears below.

Keeping those separate is the point of dating everything.

Reporting one

Corrections are the most useful message we receive, particularly on tool behaviour and current rules, which decay fastest. If you think something here is wrong, tell us what and why. We would rather hear it from you.

If you are the subject of a claim here and it is inaccurate, that takes priority over everything else in the queue.

The log

No corrections have been logged yet. This site is new, and an empty log means only that — not that no errors exist. When one is found it will appear here with the date it was published, the date it was corrected, and what was wrong.