Every statement we publish about a product belongs to one of six classes. The class is shown next to the statement as text, so that it does not depend on colour.
What are the six classes of evidence?
- Vendor-reported claim: said by the company that sells the product.
- Independently observed: something a reviewer saw directly but did not measure under a repeatable protocol.
- Independently measured: a result from a documented, repeatable protocol run independently of the vendor.
- Third-party research: published by someone other than us or the vendor. We link it and have not reproduced it.
- Editorial interpretation: our reading of what the evidence means.
- Unverified: we could not confirm it, or have not yet checked.
What do we record for important claims?
For each important claim we record the source link, the organisation behind it, the publication date, the date we last checked it, the exact scope of the claim, its classification, and its limitations.
Why is scope part of a claim?
A statement that is true of one product, plan, region, or deployment is not automatically true of another. When a vendor says a capability or a certification applies, the question is always: to which exact product, in which exact configuration?
Frequently asked questions
Is a vendor's documentation a verified finding?
No. Vendor documentation shows what the vendor states, so it is labelled a vendor-reported claim unless it has been independently checked.
What is the difference between independently observed and independently measured?
Observed means a reviewer saw the behaviour directly. Measured means the result came from a documented, repeatable protocol.
What does unverified mean on this site?
We could not confirm the statement, or have not yet checked it, so it should not be relied on.
Sources
This article is editorial analysis. It cites no external sources and contains no product performance claims, benchmark figures, or policy facts.