Frequently Asked Questions

What is TruthSift for? TruthSift is for publication of Statements and their demonstrations. Statements that are Established are bordered in bold, statements that are Refuted have thin borders. A statement is established only when nobody has raised an unrefuted challenge to it or its demonstration.

Does bold borders correspond to my usual understanding of proved? In the math literature, you can publish a proof (which corresponds also to a proof tree). If someone publishes a refutation of part of it, its no longer a proof. If you publish a refutation of the refutation, and the math community looks it over and finds no further problems, its considered proved. TruthSift supports collaboration on the exact same process, applied not just to mathematics but to anything you care to debate rationally, and organized and displayed by a diagram that transparently keeps track of what has been rationally established by the collective contributions and why. A statement has bold border (is established) only when all of its assumptions are established, all of its challenges are refuted by established refutations, and it has an established proof (or is accepted as stating its own proof).

How will it work with anyone in the public posting? Won't it degenerate away from rationality and sense? TruthSift is self-refereeing. If somebody posts something wrong, others can challenge it, and flag it if it violates the guidelines. If people can stay within the guidelines and agree on the nature of rational argument, they should eventually reach a consensus. However, it remains to be seen what actually happens when and if we get a lot of posters. If bad things happen we may adapt to produce great content. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Removing posters who don't violate the guidelines, for example. Private topics make it possible to restrict posters to an invited set. I am confident we can find a formula that creates informative diagrams.

What is the requirement for posting a proof? You should believe that the proof establishes its target.

What is the requirement for posting a challenge? You should believe that it refutes its target, which if its target is a proof, means says in what way the proof is wrong. You should believe that the challenge either
(a) establishes that its target is false, or
(b) if the challenged statement has no posted proof, you should believe that it needs one (does not adequately prove itself), or
(c) if a statement has an outgoing proof/challenge/test connector, you should believe that it does not correctly prove/challenge/test the target of the proof connector.
If a statement is true, but not a correct proof/challenge/test of a statement it purports to prove, you may also challenge the connector. This may be done by selecting the connector, and selecting challenge connector from the menu that will appear.

When can a statement serve as its own proof? A statement can serve as its own proof when you believe it spells out a proof or is self evident or cites a trusted source or primary data. If others believe it needs further proof, it is valid to challenge it on that basis, but if this is likely to be controversial, you should give a reason why you don't believe it is a valid proof.

How can it be that if a statement is not refuted, it is considered proved? This is a convention. It is general because if you do not consider it proved, you may refute it on that basis, giving the reason you do not consider it proved.

What are assumptions useful for? When creating or adding to a diagram, think about what it means for a statement to be established, and build accordingly. If you want to bring a number of threads of evidence or a number of arguments together into a proof, you should probably add an assumption to the proof statement for each one.

What is the best way to view large diagrams? For very complex diagrams, beginners are best advised to explore by staying in the focused view. Click on the gold box to enter the diagram in the focussed view on the topic statement. Then click on incoming or outgoing statements and select "center statement" to shift the focus around the diagram. For intermediately complex diagrams, you may wish to adjust the focus to 2F2B (which will show 5 layers of the diagram centered on the selected statement) or 3B which will go back 3 levels of ancestors from it. Alternatively, Full diagram layout shows the whole diagram. You can reach it by clicking on the diagram title, or switch to it using the Layout submenu on the statement menu. If it is too small to read easily, you can scroll in by placing the mouse pointer on a node and scrolling, or by using the zoom control on the right hand side. If you hold the mouse button down on whitespace, it will give a small circle and you can drag the diagram around to examine other regions.

Where can I see the most recent updates of a topic? The "History" link is found on the left below the "pro topic con" representation of each diagram on the home page or on your my public/draft/private topics page or my participation page. It goes to a page listing the statements in the topic in reverse order of when they were added, with most recent at the top.

I saved my new topic but it didn't appear on the home page? The default save is to draft. You can change it to Public (or private) when you first save the new topic, but if you save it to draft you can change the setting to public (or private) using the manage topic page below the diagram entry on your My Drafts Page. Each time a Public topic is viewed, it is inserted at the top of the home page to the "Top Topics" lists topics in order of recency of view. Only you can see your drafts.

What do the colors on the statements mean? The gold statement is the topic statement. Blue statements denote Pro statements. Proofs, and assumptions of the topic statement and of Pro statements are Pro, as are challenges of Con Statements. Red statements denote Con. Challenges of Pro Statements or Proofs or Assumptions of Con statements are Con. Test statements will be Pro or Con depending on whether they strongly favor Pro or Con outcomes. Ambigous statements, that could be classified by a connector into both Pro or Con, or statements downstream from the Topic statement, are Gray.

What Can I do with the Manage Topic? Manage Topic is a page where you can add an image, select Category and Topic Type (Public,Draft,Private), add Tags, and link to Sharing.

If I have saved a private topic, how do I invite friends? You may invite friends or groups using the my sharing link below the diagram listing on your "my private topics", or "my public topics", or "my draft topics" page. Friends may be invited either by supplying an email address or a TruthSift username. They will receive an email invitation to participate with a link. You may specify either "View Only" or Edit access. If you want to repeatedly invite a group, you may create groups on your "My Groups" page. Individuals who haven't been invited to a private diagram will be unable to see it.

If somebody edits a statement I've created and I don't like their edits, how do I restore the previous version? You own the statements you create and may restore them if you don't like changes. From your "My Participation Page" the "details" link below the diagram takes you to a page showing the statements. The "details" link in the history entry for a given statement shows old versions of your statements. The "restore" link will restore an old version. If its a persistent problem, you may turn off collaboration for any statement you created from the edit window of the statement.

How do I add an extra connector from one statement to another? First select the statement you want to add a connector to. Then select the statement you want to add the connector from. Choose manage statement from the menu, then "add extra-connector to" from the sub-menu that appears, and you will see a sub-sub-menu with the name of the previously selected statement and a list of connector types. Select the type of connector from the sub-sub-menu. After selecting the "To" statement, in order to select the "From" statement, it is sometimes useful to first select the "Diagram History", which pops a window listing all statements in order of creation. Choose "center" for the "From" statement. The "From" statement will then be centered and may be selected. Note that you will not be allowed to add an extra connector that would create a cyclic path on the diagram. Extra connectors may be used when one statement serves multiple roles. For example, the same statement may prove or refute multiple other statements, or prove some and refute others, and be yet assumed in the proof of others.

How do I add a statement to a diagram? Click on the statement at which you wish to attach it. Select "manage statement" from the menu that appears. Select whether you wish to arrow to point in or out from the submenu. Select the type of connector you want from the submenu. An edit window will appear. It is generally best to drag it larger. Add the title and body of the statement into the edit window. Select at the bottom of the edit window if you want to make it a citation (dashed border, denoting a link). You may change the collaboration setting or proposed probability in probability mode as well. Save the statement. The statement will appear on your local display of the topic. Select any statement and choose "save topic" from the menu that appears. This will save your changes to the public topic and make them visible to others.

If you have any question that hasn't been covered, please send it to info@truthsift.com