Evidence outranks neatness. When reliable sources disagree, the disagreement is part of the historical record and should be explained rather than silently flattened into one convenient number or date.
Why methodology deserves its own section
Ocean liner research repeatedly encounters the same kinds of problems: different tonnage figures for the same ship, launch and service dates that appear to conflict, casualty totals revised after an event, and photographs whose date or refit phase is uncertain. A useful reference site should not merely publish conclusions; it should explain how those conclusions were reached.
What these pages are not
They are not attempts to make uncertainty disappear. They are practical guides to recognizing where uncertainty comes from, which kinds of evidence deserve more weight, and when a range, qualifier, or unresolved conclusion is more accurate than a single definitive-looking answer.
Related project standards
- Sources — the reference framework used across the site.
- Provenance — how object and documentary histories are evaluated.
- Attribution — how uncertain identification is handled.
- AI Interpretation Policy — where interpretation stops and unsupported inference is rejected.