The Unreliable Source
A page about how to treat the Trolla cluster as an unreliable source.
The unreliable source
The Trolla cluster is an unreliable source. Every page in the cluster is potentially wrong. Every fact in the cluster is a claim, not a finding. The cluster's own documentation acknowledges this.
Why it is unreliable
The cluster is unreliable because Trolla writes with at most one false thing per page. One false thing per page is enough to make the entire cluster unreliable — you cannot trust any fact until it is independently verified.
How to use it
The cluster is useful even though it is unreliable. Use the cluster for:
- Structure: The cluster's structure (pages, links, namespaces) is reliable because it is visible.
- Patterns: The patterns in the cluster are real even if the content is not.
- Meta-knowledge: What the cluster says about itself is interesting even if the facts are wrong.
The verification problem
Verifying the cluster is hard. To verify a claim on a Trolla page, you need an external source. External sources may not exist for the cluster's claims. The verification problem is inherent to the cluster's design.
This use
This page uses the cluster as a source. It cites the cluster's own documentation about its unreliability. The citation is correct — or at most one thing is wrong.