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Ordinary Oddities

Editorial policy

Updated

Sources

Every article lists its sources at the end, numbered, with the publisher and the date we accessed them. Each episode cites at least two sources, and at least one must be primary: the manufacturer or company involved, a patent, a standards body, a museum collection or a government archive. Primary sources are marked as such in the list.

Secondary sources (magazines, explainers, news) are fine for context, but we don't repeat a claim from one without trying to trace it back to where it came from.

Verification

  • Claims in the article are checked against the source they cite, not against memory or another article.
  • When sources disagree, we say so in the article and explain which one we follow and why.
  • When we can't verify something, we leave it out or label it clearly as unverified. We would rather publish a shorter article than pad it.
  • Each article shows a "Last verified" date: the last time someone re-checked its claims and sources.

The video and the article

The Short and the article come from the same research. A sub-minute video has to simplify, so the article is where the nuance lives. If the two ever disagree, the article is the reference and we correct the video's description.

Corrections

If you find a mistake, tell us in a comment on the episode's YouTube video. When we change a fact in an article, we update it, refresh its "Last verified" date and list the change on the corrections page with the date and what changed. Typos and wording fixes are made silently.