Editorial method

Evidence dimensions

How the archive describes affiliation changes without reducing people or disputed motives to a loaded category.

The inherited “five patterns” taxonomy is retired.

It combined observed events, presumed motives, political judgement, and career outcomes. Those are different kinds of information and require different evidence. Existing labels remain in the preserved legacy dataset for provenance, but they do not appear as canonical facts.

Canonical fields

Transition: Joined or left a caucus, became independent, was expelled or suspended, formed a party, returned, merged, or dissolved.
Agency: Voluntary, involuntary, mixed, disputed, or unknown.
Direction: Toward or away from government, opposition, recognized party status, or independence.
Stated reason: What the participant said, quoted and cited as a reported statement.
Competing accounts: What other identified sources reported, kept separate from the participant’s account.
Documented outcomes: Elections, appointments, offices, resignations, retirements, votes, and explicit unknown or pending states.
Project analysis: A signed interpretation with assumptions, evidence, confidence, counterarguments, and revision history.

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