The credibility standard
Document. Verify.
Preserve.
A survivor organization can be forceful and precise at the same time. ESFB's proposed evidence system makes the status of every important claim visible.
| Status | Meaning | Publication treatment |
|---|---|---|
| Established public fact | Supported by reliable records or authoritative sources. | State directly and cite the source. |
| Primary document | Original court filing, communication, record, photo, video or other source item. | Describe provenance, date and context; preserve the original. |
| Firsthand testimony | A person's account of what they experienced, saw or heard. | Attribute it clearly to the witness or survivor. |
| Corroborated allegation | A claim supported by multiple independent pieces of evidence but not formally adjudicated. | Explain what corroborates it and what remains unresolved. |
| Unresolved allegation | A serious claim for which sufficient independent support has not yet been established. | Label it as an allegation or question; avoid asserting guilt. |
| Hypothesis / research lead | A proposed connection or theory used to guide further research. | Do not present it as a finding. |
Preserve the original
Keep source files unchanged.
Work from copies. Preserve filenames, dates and metadata when possible.
Work from copies. Preserve filenames, dates and metadata when possible.
Record provenance.
Note who supplied the item, when, and how it was obtained.
Note who supplied the item, when, and how it was obtained.
Build a chronology.
Separate dates you know from dates you estimate.
Separate dates you know from dates you estimate.
Do not publicly dump sensitive evidence.
Personal data, minors' information, medical records and sexual-abuse material require special care.
Personal data, minors' information, medical records and sexual-abuse material require special care.
Publication review
Before naming a person
Ask: What exactly are we alleging? What evidence supports that exact statement? Is the source public? Is there a fair contextual fact that changes its meaning? Are we reporting an allegation or implying a conclusion beyond the evidence?
Correction policy
Corrections should identify what changed, when it changed, and why. Archived screenshots should not silently preserve claims that the organization has determined were inaccurate.
Important: ESFB should not launch an evidence-upload portal until it has appropriate legal review, privacy terms, retention rules, access controls and a secure storage architecture. A normal website form is not an evidence vault.