Fact-checking guide
This page is for fact-checkers, editors, reporters and creators. Exponential is easier to check than most software because almost everything is public in its Git repository. This guide gives you a method that works for a news story, a video script or a social post.
Contents
- The method in six steps
- Kinds of claims and where to check them
- A worked example
- What cannot be verified
- Keeping a record
The method in six steps
- Mark every claim. Names, numbers, dates, versions, "first", "only", "faster", "free", quotes.
- Classify each one: fact, self-description, opinion or quote (Attributing statements).
- Find the primary source with Where the facts live, for the press.
- Check it at the source, not in a summary: open the file, the tag or the page.
- Record the source and the date you checked it.
- Decide: keep, correct, attribute, or cut. A claim without a source is cut or reported as unverified.
Kinds of claims and where to check them
| Claim | Check at | Page |
|---|---|---|
| A version or release date | The Git tags | Verifying dates, Verifying a release yourself |
| A count | The method given with it, or recount | Verifying numbers |
| A quote | The original text or your recording | Verifying quotes |
| A product name | The naming rules | Naming quick reference for news editors |
| What a feature does | Its feature page in doc/eng-us/features/6.0/ and the changelog | Feature stories: index |
| A history fact | The history pages and the timelines | Timeline for reporters |
| An organization fact | The organization's own website and the two profile pages | 7x for reporters, The Exponential Foundation for reporters |
| A license | LICENSE, COPYRIGHT.md, the package's composer.json | Licenses explained for reporters |
| A comparison | Both products' own documentation, same criteria | Comparisons done fairly |
A worked example
Draft sentence:
"Released last month, eZ Publish 6.0.15 brings an AI that writes and publishes articles and makes sites
ten times faster, says 7x, which has maintained the CMS since 1998."| Claim | Check | Result |
|---|---|---|
| "Released last month" | git tag -l 'v6.0.*' --sort=version:refname | Released only if the tag exists, on the tag's date |
| "eZ Publish 6.0.15" | Naming rules | The product is Exponential |
| "an AI that writes and publishes" | expai feature page | Writes drafts only, never publishes |
| "ten times faster" | README, Velocity section | No comparison published; only the documented figures with their conditions |
| "says 7x" | Is there a statement? | No; the facts come from the documentation |
| "maintained since 1998" | 7x in three stages | Founded 2001 as Brookins Consulting; took over the code base in 2023 |
Corrected sentence:
"Exponential 6.0.15, the current release line, adds Exponential Intelligence, a writing assistant that
writes drafts but never publishes them, and Velocity, a web server written in PHP, according to the
project's changelog. 7x has led the project since 2023."What cannot be verified
Some questions have no public answer: usage numbers, customers, budgets, governance details, future dates (What the sources do not say). Ask the organization, attribute the answer, and if there is none, say that the information is not published. Never fill the gap with an estimate.
Keeping a record
Keep a simple log per story; it makes corrections easy (Corrections and updates):
CLAIM SOURCE CHECKED RESULT
6.0.14 released 7 June 2026 git tag v6.0.14 2026-10-18 ok
Foundation founded 19 March 2026 foundation.exponential.earth 2026-10-18 ok
"writes drafts only" doc/eng-us/features/6.0/extensions/expai.md 2026-10-18 ok, attributedRelated pages
- Fact-checking checklist
- Common errors in coverage
- Honesty and accuracy
- Free documentation: this page is free to copy, translate and improve under the GNU FDL 1.3.
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