Reliable sourcing is particularly important when content involves technical requirements, safety, regulations, security, financial consequences, statistics, or information that changes over time.
Source Selection
The appropriate source depends on the specific claim being evaluated.
Information closest to the original authority responsible for the fact is preferred whenever reasonably available.
Government and Regulatory Sources
Government agencies and regulators may be used for laws, regulations, official statistics, consumer protection information, safety requirements, public programs, and regulatory guidance.
Standards Organizations
Standards organizations may be used for technical specifications, internet protocols, security requirements, building standards, engineering standards, and other formal requirements.
Official Product and Service Documentation
A company or organization is generally the primary source for factual information about its own products, services, technical requirements, supported configurations, policies, or announced changes.
Official company documentation does not automatically establish broader claims about an entire industry or competing products.
Academic and Research Sources
Peer-reviewed research, universities, recognized research institutions, and original datasets may be used where scientific or empirical evidence is relevant.
Professional Organizations
Recognized professional organizations may provide useful guidance when a subject depends on established professional practice, industry standards, or specialized judgment.
Secondary Sources
Reputable journalism, specialist publications, and educational resources may provide useful context.
When a secondary source references an original study, regulation, report, dataset, or announcement, the original material is preferred when reasonably accessible.
Matching Sources to Claims
A citation should support the specific claim for which it is used.
A general source should not be treated as evidence for a narrow technical requirement unless it actually addresses that requirement.
An outdated source should not be relied upon to establish a current limit or rule when a newer authoritative source exists.
Time-Sensitive Information
Some information becomes outdated more quickly than other information.
Topics that may require more frequent verification include cybersecurity recommendations, privacy requirements, advertising policies, browser behavior, email-provider requirements, certificate standards, software behavior, regulations, government statistics, and technical specifications.
Statistics and Numerical Claims
Statistics should be evaluated in the context of what was actually measured.
Relevant considerations may include the date, geography, population, sample, definition, methodology, and whether the number represents an estimate or directly observed result.
A precise number should not be presented with greater certainty than the underlying evidence supports.
Technical Claims
Technical content should distinguish between formal requirements, recommended practices, common configurations, possible failure modes, and practical interpretation.
These categories are not interchangeable.
Formal requirements should be checked against the applicable standard, specification, or official documentation whenever reasonably possible.
Laws and Regulations
Legal requirements vary by jurisdiction and may change over time.
A rule applying in one country, state, province, or regulatory system should not be presented as universally applicable.
Legal and regulatory information on Worst Case Guide is general educational information and does not replace professional legal advice.
Conflicting Sources
Reliable sources may sometimes appear to disagree because they use different dates, populations, jurisdictions, definitions, testing methods, or assumptions.
When disagreement is material, those differences should be considered before selecting or presenting a conclusion.
Anonymous and Unverifiable Claims
Anonymous forum posts, social media posts, unsourced summaries, automatically generated answers, and similar materials are not treated as authoritative evidence for consequential factual claims.
Such material may identify a question worth investigating, but stronger evidence should be found before relying on the claim.
Fact-Checking
Fact-checking may include verifying names and dates, reviewing primary sources, checking numerical claims, comparing old and current requirements, confirming that a source supports the surrounding statement, and distinguishing recommendations from mandatory requirements.
Not every ordinary statement requires a citation. Specific, consequential, quantitative, disputed, or rapidly changing claims require stronger sourcing.
Source Updates
A source may remain accessible while the information it contains becomes outdated.
When newer authoritative information materially changes an existing claim, the current evidence should take priority over an obsolete source.
Reader-Supplied Sources
Readers may suggest stronger or newer sources through the Contact page.
Submitted sources are evaluated according to the same standards applied to other research material.