The Methodology
What [sic] means
Nothing has been invented. Nothing has been embellished.
The record did not require either.
Editors write [sic] — Latin for "thus" or "so" — when quoting a source that contains an error, an unusual phrase, or something that looks wrong but is being reported exactly as written. It means: we know how this reads. We're quoting it anyway. This is what it actually says.
The [SIC] in The [SIC] Press™ stands for exactly what you think it stands for. As in: thus it was written. As in: yes, we know.
The archive
The series is built from an ongoing archive of documented social media posts from named US public figures — elected officials, appointed officials, prominent political commentators, and media personalities with documented public roles — during 2025–2026. Posts are collected across multiple platforms, stored with full metadata, and cross-referenced against news coverage before being assigned a confidence tier.
Platforms included: X/Twitter (primary), Instagram, Threads, Bluesky, and YouTube community posts. Collection is ongoing through the active publication window.
The three confidence tiers
Every post in the archive carries one of three confidence ratings. Those ratings determine how the post appears in the series.
Tier 1 — Direct source
A direct screenshot of the original post on the source platform, taken at time of posting. Date-stamped, platform-verified, with the original URL and archival link on record.
In the series: CONFIRMED posts appear as character dialogue in standard speech bubbles. This is the verbatim record. The character said this, in this form, on this date.
Tier 2 — Verified secondary source
A post verified through reliable secondary sourcing — credible news reporting of the post, a platform-preserved thread, a verified reshare with metadata intact. The original post is confirmed to exist even when the primary screenshot is not in the archive.
In the series: TESTIMONY posts appear as character dialogue, lettered in a secondary typeface that distinguishes them from CONFIRMED material. Sourced, but one degree removed.
Tier 3 — Paraphrase or reconstruction
The post is known to exist — or to have existed — but the exact wording is uncertain. The original may have been deleted, the account suspended, or the platform inaccessible. Secondary source confirmation is noted where available.
In the series: APPROXIMATE material does not appear in character speech bubbles. It appears only in narrator captions and context-setting boxes — framed as reported, not verbatim. The distinction is visible in the lettering.
How tiers appear in the series
What this series does not do
The methodology has hard limits.
- No invented dialogue. Every word in a character's speech bubble is something they actually posted. The series does not fill in gaps with plausible statements.
- No composite characters. All characters are real, named individuals with verified public presences. No person's words have been attributed to a fictional stand-in.
- No altered quotes. Posts appear as posted — including typos, unconventional punctuation, and original capitalization. The [sic] is always in effect.
- No false sequencing. Posts appear in chronological sequence. They are not reordered to create implications that the original sequence does not support.
- No speculation. The narrator observes, contextualizes, and sequences. The narrator does not claim to know what any character was thinking, intending, or planning unless they posted about it.
- No private information. The archive contains only material that was posted publicly, by named individuals, to public audiences. No DMs, no leaked documents, no private communications.
The full record
The series ships with back matter. The Annotated Edition of each volume includes the complete source list for that volume's episodes — URLs, dates, platform confirmations, confidence tier assignments, and secondary source citations where applicable.
The Annotated Edition
Every post that appears in the series is traceable back to a source. The Annotated Edition is where that trace lives — date by date, post by post, tier by tier. Readers who want to verify a line of dialogue can do so. That was a design requirement, not an afterthought.
Back matter ships with each volume. Full citation index included.
Why this approach
The record turned out to be sufficient. The methodology exists to make it verifiable.
Every line of dialogue is checkable. The confidence tier tells you how to read it. The citation index in the back matter tells you where it came from.
Press and verification inquiries
For source citations, URL verification, and platform-specific documentation requests, contact:
misfitcaucus.com is a publication of Social Truth Press LLC