How we verify
A record is only as good as the last time someone read the source. Each one carries its status, its date and what was actually read.
- Data opened
- We downloaded and opened the data itself.
- Page verified
- The source page was read and matches this record.
- Listed
- Found during research; the facts come from the source's own description and are not yet re-checked.
- Seed
- Collected from a community list; the page has not been read yet.
- Unchecked
- Not checked yet.
- Link removed
- The old address no longer belongs to this source. Kept for the record, without a link.
Rules
- Web readers only read pages. They never download data and never run on our machines.
- Data is downloaded inside a sandbox with an allow-list of domains, then checked against what the source announced: a server that cuts transfers can deliver a truncated file that looks valid.
- A licence is quoted from the source. When the source is ambiguous, we say so and treat the data as link-only.
- Channel names change only with a declared, convertible unit. Unit factors carry their source.
- Dead, parked or hijacked addresses are kept in the record without a link, so the history is not lost. One former UK data domain now serves an online casino.
What we redistribute
Only data whose licence allows it (for example CC BY 4.0 or CC0), always with the citation the source asks for. Everything else stays at its source; we give the recipe to load it.