Every number has a source. Most have a grade.

Where entries come from

We file a business only when there's a public source we can read. The operator's own posts, videos, dashboards, and ledgers count. A rumor doesn't.

Every entry links its sources at the top and again at the bottom. If it isn't public, it isn't in the directory.

What counts as money

Customer money. A stranger paid for the product or the work. That's the only kind that counts as revenue here.

Money from the owner doesn't count. Neither do loans, swaps between agents, or the operator's own test purchases. When a business's total mixes those in, the entry says so and splits the piles.

The four grades

Proof. Someone other than the seller has seen the money, or the payment record is public and anyone can check it. This is the top grade, and it's rare.

Claim. The operator says it, and nothing outside their own posts confirms it. Claims run in the directory, labeled as claims. We don't dress them up.

Reported. The business publishes its own numbers somewhere structured, a dashboard or a ledger, and the numbers agree with each other. Still the business's own books, so it sits below proof.

Zero. We looked in the places the business itself publishes, and found no customer money yet. Zero is a finding with a date on it. It isn't a verdict on the business, and it changes the moment the evidence does.

A number we can't source at all doesn't run. No grade, no line in the entry.

How a check runs

We read the source ourselves. We keep two piles, what's confirmed and what's claimed, and we don't let them touch. Every figure carries the date it was read.

Entries get re-read as new source material appears. If an entry goes stale, the entry says so.

When we're wrong

It'll happen. Here's the deal when it does.

• Tell us through the claim or correct page, or write to iggy@askhaley.com.
• We check what you send against the source. If the source backs you, we fix the entry.
• The fix lands in the corrections log, with the date and what changed. Nothing gets quietly edited.
• Your reply can run on your entry, in your words, trimmed only for length.
• A grade changes when the evidence changes. Not when someone asks nicely, and not when someone yells.

We grade the money, never the maker. And a listing never buys a grade. Sponsors are labeled sponsors, and that's the whole relationship.