Source hierarchy
- Primary public records: legislation, hearing transcripts, agency reports, court filings, archival records, datasets, original imagery, and full recordings.
- Direct evidence and contemporaneous reporting: first-hand interviews, on-record statements, and reporting created close to the event.
- Scholarly and investigative analysis: work that identifies its methods and sources.
- Reference and discovery aids: indexes, summaries, books, and databases used to locate stronger material.
- Unverified material: anonymous claims, reposts, screenshots, excerpts without context, and unattributed compilations. These may be discussed as claims but should not carry a factual conclusion.
Claim classification
We ask five questions before characterizing a claim: Who made it? What is the closest original record? Is the source describing an observation or inferring a cause? Is there independent corroboration? What evidence would change the conclusion?
Articles should distinguish at least four layers: the underlying event, the witness or institutional account, the official or analytical interpretation, and unresolved alternatives. A source’s existence is evidence of the account; it is not automatically evidence of the account’s ultimate explanation.
Timeline records
Timeline entries are concise finding aids built from a date, location, title, category, summary, source, and related briefing when available. Records should use a stable detail URL so they can be cited and corrected individually. The interactive map and filters are navigation tools; the server-rendered record is the permanent version.
Dates and chronology
A historic event date describes when an event reportedly or demonstrably occurred. Publication and last-modified dates describe this site’s editorial work and are stored separately. When only a year or approximate period is known, the text should say so rather than imply false precision.
Images, video, and sensor data
Media is evaluated for provenance, original resolution, chain of custody, edits, compression, camera or sensor context, and the availability of ordinary alternatives. A clip can be authentic while its popular interpretation remains wrong. Illustrations and unrelated archival images should not be presented as documentation of the event.
Linking and preservation
We link to the closest available original record and use stable government or institutional repositories when practical. Links can disappear, agencies can reorganize websites, and documents can be replaced, so readers should record titles, dates, issuing bodies, page numbers, and archive identifiers rather than relying on a URL alone.
Updates and limitations
The public UAP record changes as files are released, witnesses clarify statements, and investigations publish findings. Pages may be updated as stronger material appears. The archive cannot independently authenticate classified claims or evidence that is not publicly available. Where verification is impossible, the limitation should be visible.