Citations

every statement traced to its source

A citation is a numbered mark at a claim, with its reference at the foot of the page, written as a markdown footnote.^[1] Three checks hold citations to account: one each for a sentence and an infobox row that cite nothing, and one for a reference that cites the wrong kind of thing.^[2]

Silence

Every sentence must carry a citation, or the red mark that says there is none.^[3] If one does not, the check names the page and the line, and quotes the sentence.^[3] The check looks for the mark, not the reference behind it: a sentence naming a footnote the page never defines passes, and shows the mark as plain text.^[4] Each statement passes or is refused this way.^[3]

flowchart LR
  accTitle: How a statement is judged
  accDescr: A page that says goals = false is excused. Otherwise each sentence, list item and table row passes if it carries a citation or the red mark outside code, or if it has no letters, links to a markdown file or is only a link; anything else is refused with its page and line.
  page(["Page checked"]) --> exempt{"Says goals = false?"}
  exempt -- "Yes" --> excused(["Page excused"])
  exempt -- "No" --> read["Read each statement"] --> cited{"Citation or red mark<br/>outside code?"}
  cited -- "Yes" --> passes(["Statement passes"])
  cited -- "No" --> other{"No letters, a page link<br/>or only a link?"}
  other -- "Yes" --> passes
  other -- "No" --> refused(["Refused with page and line"])

A citation after the full stop belongs to its sentence, and a sentence never borrows its neighbour's citation.^[3] A version number does not end a sentence, but an abbreviation followed by a capital does, so Dr. Smith is read as two sentences.^[5] A sentence directly under a heading is checked like any other.^[6]

Four things are excused: a sentence linking to any markdown file, even one that does not exist; a list item that is only a link; a code sample; and a picture with its caption.^[7] Every table row carries a citation, or the red mark, in at least one of its cells; a table whose rows cite nothing is a gap, not an excuse.^[8] The header row is exempt.^[8]

An infobox row cites a footnote the page's text also cites, and carries that citation's number, or is marked as having no source; a row with neither, or citing a footnote no sentence uses, is refused.^[9] A page that says goals = false is excused from both rules, whatever it describes.^[10]

Red mark

Where nothing can be cited, the writer puts the word missing in curly braces, and it renders as a red question mark in brackets.^[11] It is a fine answer; silence is not.^[3] It means the thing is not built or where it happens has not been found, and to a reader both mean the same: do not take this on faith.^[11] A user build removes every mark.^[12] Inside code, the mark is shown as written and counts for nothing.^[13]

Every build and check prints how many sources each page cites and how many claims it marks, with totals for the wiki.^[14] wiki check also lists every marked claim by page and line, without failing.^[15]

Documents

A reference whose link contains .md anywhere is refused, because a page of prose is only another claim that can be wrong in the same way.^[16] Outside documentation passes when its address has no .md, so a README on GitHub is refused like a project document.^[16] A reference that names a document without linking to it passes, and so does one that names nothing.^[16]