Method and grading
This project makes claims about institutions using those institutions' own records. The method exists so that any reader can check every claim without trusting the author.
Findings
Each finding states one claim in one sentence, without qualification. The qualification belongs in the grade and the evidence, where the reader can see it, not in the wording of the claim. A finding that cannot be stated plainly is not published.
Grades
- Primary record
- The institution's own document: a statute, court order, product label, agency letter, internal memorandum, or the report of a statutory body.
- Peer-reviewed
- A study published in a peer-reviewed journal. The grade describes the source, not the strength of its conclusion.
- Reported
- Testimony, journalism, or an institutional statement relayed by a third party. Used where the underlying document has not yet been obtained, and marked as such.
- Open question
- A question the record raises and the responsible institutions have not answered. An open finding names the study or disclosure that would close it.
Authorship and funding
The Lacuna Project is published collectively under its own name. It has no affiliations, sponsors, advertisers or funding from any government, company, foundation, advocacy group or political organization. It sells nothing.
What this project does not do
It does not give medical advice. It does not tell any reader whether to accept or refuse a vaccine, drug, or treatment. Its subject is the evidence record and the conduct of the institutions responsible for it. It does not attribute motives to named individuals beyond what their own documents state.
Further reading
Books, films and reports on the subjects of the reports are listed under Further reading. They are not exhibits, and no finding depends on one. Each entry states the work's main claims and checks them against documents. A verdict rests on the documents named in its row. Where records that could settle a claim are withheld, the entry says so. An entry never rates a work higher because it may have been suppressed, and never rates it lower because it was unpopular.
Corrections
Errors of fact are corrected in place, with the change recorded here and the chapter's version number increased. Exhibit numbers, finding numbers and paragraph numbers are permanent: a withdrawn source keeps its number and is marked withdrawn, and a citation made today will lead to the same place later.
No corrections have been made.