Evidence layer
Probative surfaces brought into scope by this page
This page does more than point to governance files. It is also anchored to surfaces that make observation, traceability, fidelity, and audit more reconstructible. Their order below makes the minimal evidence chain explicit.
- 01Canon and scopeDefinitions canon
Definitions canon
/canon.md
Opposable base for identity, scope, roles, and negations that must survive synthesis.
- Makes provable
- The reference corpus against which fidelity can be evaluated.
- Does not prove
- Neither that a system already consults it nor that an observed response stays faithful to it.
- Use when
- Before any observation, test, audit, or correction.
Citation stability
Citation stability is the persistence of citation patterns across prompts, systems, languages, locations and time.
A source cited once is an observation. A source cited repeatedly in the same role, for the same claim, across answer variants is a stronger signal. Stability does not prove correctness, but it improves confidence in the observed pattern.
What changes stability
Citation stability can change when pages are updated, competitors publish stronger sources, search rankings shift, answer systems alter retrieval behavior, language context changes, or an old source remains known to the system after the live web has changed.
For this reason, stability must be measured with dates, systems, prompts, languages and source roles.
Governance implication
Citation stability should never be reduced to frequency. A frequently cited source can still be ornamental or outdated. The strongest signal is persistent citation with a governing or supporting role and a faithful answer.