Source hierarchy
- Primary government record, original media, statute, transcript, or agency report.
- Contemporaneous operational, aviation, police, scientific, or court record.
- Named first-hand witness account with clear provenance.
- Secondary analysis that exposes methods and cites its inputs.
- Anonymous, derivative, or unsupported retelling, labeled accordingly.
Five documentation dimensions
Witness Quality
Identity, proximity, expertise, number, independence, and contemporaneous reporting.
Evidence
Original imagery, radar, telemetry, physical traces, chain of custody, and access to raw data.
Official Records
Whether authenticated records document the event, response, or later analysis.
Multiple Sources
Whether independent records or observers corroborate material details.
Alternative Explanation
Whether conventional explanations fit the available data and known sensor effects.
Legacy score limitation
The recovered site displays a 0–100 documentation score, but the original per-dimension worksheets were not recovered. It cannot currently be reproduced as a scientific calculation. Treat 0–64 as limited documentation, 65–79 as mixed documentation, and 80–100 as stronger documentation. The score is not proof, not a probability that a story is true, and never an estimate of extraterrestrial origin.
Uncertainty vocabulary
- Reported
- A witness or source made the statement.
- Authenticated
- The record or media provenance is verified; its interpretation may remain disputed.
- Unresolved
- Available information did not support a definitive identification.
- Resolved
- An official or documented analysis assigned an explanation.
- Alleged
- The claim lacks sufficient independent verification.
Update rule
Material changes should cite the new source and update the page's modification date. Conflicting metadata is preserved as a provenance warning instead of silently harmonized.