Four types of evidence: what counts

Verdicts only read evidence typology. This page covers the four types that count, the three submission baselines, and how they feed the score.

The four types

• Complaint quotes — target users complaining verbatim about current workflows/tools/costs. Paraphrases invalid; originals required.
• Payments or refunds — proof people already pay to solve this: payment screenshots, renewal and price-rise discussions, refund complaints. Pain without payment evidence is just complaints.
• Competitor links — product and pricing pages of similar products. Finding 3 competitors is not bad news; it is the best proof demand exists.
• Data signals — market behavior with numbers: search trends, rankings and growth, changing job requirements, community growth screenshots.

These four are also the collection categories of the Evidence Wall (your local browser tray) — same taxonomy as the homepage evidence cards.

Four collection types vs. eight verdict types

Inside the gate, the evidence ledger uses a finer eight-type verdict taxonomy, each with a different baseline in evidence scoring — payments and orders are hardest, news and tech trends signal timing. The eight types:

• Proven payment behavior / service orders — direct records of payment and delivery.
• Recurring complaints / competitor reviews — verbatim gripes and competitor users' negative reviews.
• Search demand / trend slope — search volume and trend-direction data signals.
• News window / tech trends — timing evidence from recent events and technology shifts.

The four and eight types are collection vs. verdict taxonomies; you pick the matching type when filling the ledger — no automatic mapping.

How evidence strength is scored

Evidence strength is scored out of 20 from three parts: your strongest single item sets the base (type baseline × freshness × confidence); each extra independent category adds a cross-validation bonus; traceable URLs add more. Fresher is harder.

Exact weights are engine configuration parameters, archived with every verdict snapshot; your real report shows the itemized breakdown.

Three baselines (enforced at submission)

• Quote the original: paraphrases and summaries are not evidence; quotes that are too short are rejected.
• Subjective sentences are not evidence: sentences starting with "I think / I believe / there must be" are rejected — evidence must come from outside (user words, reviews, data).
• No source, no entry: every piece of evidence needs a source name; traceable links score stronger.

Your gate evidence ledger is stored server-side and syncs across devices after login; the Evidence Wall (your local browser tray) is the zero-upload part — different scopes, disclosed item by item in the privacy policy.