Editorial & technical sourcing policy

How technical content is sourced

Technical statements are taken from primary sources in a fixed order of preference: official registers, regulators and standards bodies; original manufacturer documentation; original academic research; museum and conservation institutions for historical pigments; then established technical references. Generic search-optimised articles are not treated as technical authorities, however widely they are quoted.

Where a claim cannot yet be supported, it is not published as a fact. On this site you will see it marked as requiring research, attributed to a named source, or simply absent — never dressed up in vague language to look settled.

How claims are classified

Every factual statement carries an evidence state in our CMS, which determines how it may be written. Three examples of the resulting language:

VERIFIED

Written plainly: “YInMn Blue is an inorganic mixed-metal oxide.”

ATTRIBUTED

Sourced to its origin: “According to the manufacturer’s data sheet for this grade…”

CONDITIONAL COMMERCIAL

Never absolute: “Available for enquiry” or “sourcing on request” — not “in stock”.

Review and authorship

Articles record who wrote them, who reviewed them technically, when they were published and when they were last reviewed. Where no named reviewer exists yet, the field is left empty rather than filled with an invented expert or a collective pseudonym. Several pages on this site are currently held at technical review for exactly that reason.

Review intervals depend on how quickly the subject changes. Historical background is stable. Commercial availability and regulatory position are not, and are reviewed on a shorter cycle. A code change never updates a review date.

Commercial and editorial content

An article explaining a technology is not an offer to supply it. Explaining how a famous finish works does not mean we can sell that finish, and we do not use editorial interest in a proprietary product as a route to implying commercial access to it.

Supply status on a material page comes from our commercial record for that material — never from the fact that the page exists.

Trademarks and manufacturer names

Product, technology and vehicle-manufacturer names are used only to identify what is being discussed, and remain the property of their owners. We are not an authorised dealer or partner of any manufacturer unless a specific authorisation is stated in writing for that product. Where a name is proprietary and commercially sensitive, the page carries an explicit clarification.

If you own a brand referenced here and something is inaccurate or misleading, tell us and we will correct it.

Images and colour

Every material visual is tracked with its source, licence and rights status. Colour and effect shown on screen are illustrative: display calibration, lighting, substrate, application method and finish all materially affect appearance, and no screen reproduction should be treated as a colour standard. Where colour matters commercially, we work from a physical sample or a measured reading.

EVERY MATERIAL VISUAL CURRENTLY ON THIS SITE IS A PLACEHOLDER TREATMENT AWAITING PHOTOGRAPHY.

Corrections

Technical pages carry a correction link. Corrections are reviewed against the source hierarchy above; where a change is made, the page’s review date is updated. Manufacturers and suppliers can also submit updated technical information for a product discussed here — doing so implies no commercial relationship.