Contributing Guidelines
How to add information, corrections, and right-of-reply responses.
Our model
CampainInTheAss is attribution-only. Every claim must be attached to a named, publicly accessible source. We follow a four-tier source hierarchy that determines what kind of claim a source can support.
| Tier | Source type | Supports |
|---|---|---|
| T1 | Government / official records | All claims, including factual assertions |
| T2 | Major news outlets | Factual claims |
| T3 | Local / trade press | Analysis and context only — NOT factual claims |
| T4 | Social media / partisan outlets | Attribution only — presented as “X says Y” |
How to submit a claim
- Navigate to the candidate's profile page and find the Community section.
- Click Add information.
- Select a category (contradiction, financial conflict, ethics, credibility, biographical, context, or other).
- Write your claim. Use the phrasing “According to [Source], [Candidate] did X” for T3/T4 sources. For T1/T2 you may state the fact directly.
- Paste the source URL. The system will validate the domain against our source tier list.
- Submit. Your submission is published immediately.
What makes a good submission
- Specific and verifiable — links to a specific document, vote record, court filing, or article
- Attributed — clear source URL included
- Factual — describes what happened, not your interpretation of it
- About public conduct— relates to the candidate's role as a public official or candidate, not private life
What will be retracted
- Claims without a valid source URL
- Claims that assert opinion as fact without attribution
- Personal information unrelated to public conduct
- Harassment, threats, or doxxing
- Claims whose source has been retracted by the original publisher
Retracted submissions are marked as retracted on the profile — they are not deleted. This is intentional: the public-record model requires that corrections are visible.
Right of reply
If you are a candidate or their authorized representative, you may submit a right-of-reply response to any claim on your profile. Your response will appear directly below the original claim, attributed to your campaign. Use the same submission form, selecting the context category and noting that it is an official response.
Disputes
If you believe a submission about you or anyone else is inaccurate, use the dispute button on the claim. Disputed claims are flagged as disputed and reviewed by the community. If a claim cannot be substantiated, it will be retracted.
Questions? editorial@campainintheass.com. For legal matters, see the Terms of Service.