Methodology changelog

Current version: v1.4 · 2 August 2026

Rankings change when the underlying rules change, not only when the data does. Every version of the method is recorded here with the date it took effect, so a ranking shown on any given day can be explained rather than reconstructed from memory.

The method itself is set out in full in how the scoring works.

v1.4 — 2 August 2026

Shareable pages. Reporter, story, team and player pages now have their own web addresses, so a link sent to someone opens the page they were looking at.
Renamed the "Trust" figure to "confirmation rate." The figure measures independent pick-up by an outlet. "Trust" implied a judgement about a person, which is not what is being measured.
Neutral status wording. "Collapsed" became "reported move later ended"; "not news" became "commentary — not scored"; the bottom band became "awaiting independent reporting".
Confirmations name their outlet on the badge itself, so the claim is visibly about what a third party reported.
Deleted posts are redacted rather than kept verbatim. The record of the post — account, time, story, deletion time — is retained; the text is removed.
Appeals. A report-a-classification route was added, with suppression of disputed items while they are checked.
"Reported move later ended" is no longer published on automated judgement alone, and low-confidence classifications are held back rather than published.

v1.3 — 2 August 2026

Round-ups can no longer confirm a story. Daily gossip columns and paper-talk pieces aggregate the reporters being ranked, so counting one as verification allowed a story to confirm itself. Existing confirmations of that kind were removed. (explanation)
An outlet can no longer confirm its own journalist's story. Reporters employed by a confirming outlet now need one of the others to pick a story up.

v1.2 — 2 August 2026

Commentary is no longer scored. Match reaction, opinion, previews and banter are archived and shown on a reporter's page but open no story and win no race. (explanation)
Story matching improved. Confirmed stories remain matchable, and recently active stories are offered as candidates, so a follow-up naming nobody attaches to the saga it belongs to instead of starting a new one.
Placeholder stories quarantined. Posts the earlier classifier failed to name are marked unclassified and excluded from scoring rather than counted.

v1.1 — 1 August 2026

Qualification threshold introduced. At least three races in the selected period are required for a full ranking; below that a reporter is shown as provisional and ranked below all qualified reporters.
Reposts excluded from a reporter's timeline, so sharing someone else's post is not counted as reporting.

v1.0 — 31 July 2026

First published method: stories as the unit of measurement, Speed as share of stories broken first, confirmation by a selected outlet, score weighted 40/60 toward confirmation, tiebreakers on deletion ratio then posts per story.

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