Methodology

Every article answers a real question that residents and visitors ask about a place, such as what county a town is in, where to launch a boat, or how to appeal a property assessment. The short answer comes first, and the rest of the page fills in the detail. Two pages never answer the same question: when topics overlap, they are merged into one page and the old address redirects to it.

Official and primary sources come first: city and county governments, state and federal agencies, school districts, special districts and the institutions that run a place or program. Fees, hours, addresses, phone numbers and the names of officeholders come from the agency's own current page. News reporting adds context only; it is never the only source for a fact. The order of sources, and the ones that are not used, are set out on the sources page.

Drafts are written with AI assistance from that research.

Every article is independently fact-checked against its sources before it is published: a separate checker that did not write it goes back to the cited sources and checks each statement. Anything that cannot be verified is removed. Articles written before this process was in place are being rewritten and checked to the same standard.

Time-sensitive facts, such as fees, officials, schedules and population figures, carry the date they apply to, and each article shows when it was last updated. Articles are re-checked and updated on a schedule, for example officials after elections and hurricane pages before each season. Every refresh goes through the same fact-check.

Corrections are welcome at [email protected]. Please name the page and, where possible, the official source that shows the current fact. Corrections are applied once they are verified.