How we know what we show
Every checkable statement leads to a source that actually supports it. The reader should always see what kind of knowledge they are looking at. Software helps us collect and compare sources; no statement is published until it has been compared with the source it cites.
Research
A researcher gathers sources for each topic and records, for every statement, the exact passage of the source that supports it.
Independent check
A second, independent reviewer opens every source again and gives each statement a verdict: confirmed, corrected or removed. Statements that cannot be confirmed are not published.
Publication
Each page shows the evidence type and source of every statement, the full source list and the date of the last check.
Corrections
Readers can report errors. Significant changes are listed publicly on the corrections page.
Five kinds of knowledge
Every statement carries one of these labels, so you always know what you are reading.
- Confirmed fact
Supported by official statistics, scientific institutions or peer-reviewed research.
- Statistical estimate
A statistical or modelled figure, shown with its year and method.
- Observation
A record of something seen at a place and time. It confirms presence, not abundance.
- Reported by the farm
Information given by an apiary or company, not independently verified.
- Open question
A hypothesis or an open question that research has not settled.
Principles
- Sources first. Official statistics, museums, universities and peer-reviewed studies come before anything else.
- No invented numbers. If a figure cannot be measured, we explain why instead of estimating it for effect.
- Words with care. We use “migration” only where it describes the phenomenon studied, and never transfer honey bee biology to all bees.
- No health promises. Traditions and taste are kept apart from health claims, and we do not publish medical promises without solid evidence.
- Visible corrections. Every article lists its author, review date and a history of significant changes.
What counts as a source
Official statistics, scientific institutions, museums, universities, government agencies and peer-reviewed research. For biology we prefer primary scientific work when overviews lack detail. Encyclopedias written by volunteers, sellers, blogs and AI-generated pages are never cited.
Maps of species records come from GBIF. A record confirms that a bee was found somewhere; it does not show abundance, and missing records do not prove absence. Exact locations of rare, collectable species are not shown.