Corrections policy

We get things wrong. What matters is what happens next.

Our commitment

We do not silently edit a factual claim. When we correct something that was published and wrong, we record it publicly on our updates page, naming what was incorrect, what it now says, and the date it changed.

This is not a courtesy. If our verification dates are to mean anything, the record of our mistakes has to be visible alongside them.

What counts as a correction

• A factual claim that was wrong when published.
• A figure, requirement or process that has since changed and that we had not updated.
• A source that turned out not to support the claim we attached to it.
• A statement that could reasonably be read as advice rather than information.

Fixing a typo, rewording a sentence or improving a layout is not a correction and is not logged.

What happens when you report an error

1. We acknowledge your message.
2. We check the claim against the primary source, not against our own previous work.
3. If you are right, the guide immediately moves to Needs Update, which removes it from search results while we fix it. We would rather be temporarily invisible than reliably wrong.
4. We publish the correction, dated, on the updates page.
5. We tell you what we did.

If a claim is materially misleading

If a published claim could lead someone to make a costly decision, we unpublish the page first and investigate second. Nothing about our traffic is worth more than that.

Reporting an error

Please contact us with the page, the claim, and if you have it, the official source that contradicts us. You do not need to be polite about it.