Sorting trust evidence, and the barred-claims list
Splitting the claims that sit mixed together in one brochure into confirmed, pending and barred. This is the main work of the verification gate.
Why three categories
Inside most companies, three different things sit on the same page of the same brochure: facts with documentation behind them, statements that are true in the business but have no document to show, and claims that cannot be substantiated or have already been contradicted. They look like the same kind of sentence. They do the opposite work on a buyer.
Buyers do not verify line by line. They spot-check. One item that fails takes the credibility of the whole document with it, including the parts that were true. That is why mixing costs far more than leaving a few claims out.
How the split works
First, confirmed fact: an original document or a checkable source exists, and it can be published. You should be able to say immediately what the evidence is and which file holds it.
Second, pending fact: true in the business, but no document available yet. Marked as candidate, kept off public pages, with a named owner and a date for closing the gap.
Third, barred: cannot be substantiated, or has been contradicted. It goes on the barred-claims list and is not used in any external material again.
The barred-claims list
This is an explicit, maintained list stating which claims about scale, certification, customers and capacity may not appear on the website or in sales material. It was one of the real deliverables in the YQAuto engagement.
Its purpose is not to restrict what you say. It protects what is true. Once the list exists, everything still on the page survives a spot-check, and sales no longer has to work from memory about which sentence is safe.
The rule is applied here first
This site runs on the same rule. Every factual statement carries two independent axes, evidence level and disclosure policy, and can be checked one by one in the evidence ledger. Unverified experience, titles and performance figures are not printed, and each blank states its reason.
If an unverified number were acceptable on my own page, you would have no reason to trust that I would catch the next one on yours.
Recent judgements
Registered statements used here
- Trust evidence splits three ways: confirmed fact, candidate fact awaiting proof, and claims barred from use. Inside most companies all three sit in the same brochure. Separating them is the main work of this gate.[public]
- The project established a barred-claims list, keeping unproven statements about scale, certification, customers and capacity off the website.[public]
- Model output is a candidate signal. Anything without a source, or that cannot be cross-checked, does not become a stated fact.[public]