Correcting the Record: How Catalogue Entries Change

No catalogue is right the day it is made and stays right for ever. People mistype dates. Products change names. A maker emails to say the founder's role is wrong. A link dies. A retired product comes back. The question is not whether entries will need correcting, but what happens when they do.

How a catalogue handles correction shows what kind of catalogue it is. A good one makes it easy to report an error, weighs evidence fairly, fixes what is wrong, keeps a history and explains its decisions. A poor one hides the route, ignores the report or quietly changes things with no trace. This guide describes the good version, from the point of view of the person asking for a correction and the editors handling it.

Why corrections matter

A catalogue is a reference. Readers rely on it, cite it and make decisions with it. A wrong date can distort a history. A misattributed founder can wrong a person. An out-of-date status can send a customer to a dead product.

Advertising and consumer rules in many places recognise the harm of misleading statements, and expect claims that people will treat as objective to be backed by evidence. A catalogue is not an advertiser, but the same discipline of evidence applies to what it states as fact.

Good correction practice is also about fairness. The people described in entries have a legitimate interest in their accuracy.

Types of correction

Not every change is the same. Editors usually distinguish several kinds.

Typographical. A misspelling, a broken link, a formatting error. Quick and uncontroversial.

Factual. A wrong date, role, category or status. Needs evidence.

Updating. The product changed: renamed, new address, new version, retired. Not an error, but the record must follow.

Disputed. Two parties disagree, for instance about who founded something or when it first appeared. Needs careful handling.

Sensitive. A request to remove personal information, or a complaint about a statement. Needs prompt, careful attention and sometimes legal advice.

Removal. An entry that should not exist: spam, a duplicate, a fraudulent listing.

Each type has its own process, but the same principles run through all.

How to ask for a correction

If you find an error, you can help get it fixed quickly.

1. Find the correction route. Look for a link on the entry or a contact page.
2. Identify the entry. Give its name and address.
3. Say what is wrong. The field and the current value.
4. Say what it should be. The proposed value.
5. Give evidence. A source, with a date.
6. Say who you are. Your relationship to the product, if any. A maker correcting their own entry should say so; so should a competitor, a customer or a stranger.
7. Be polite and specific. Editors are often busy and willing.

A good request might read: "On the entry for Notely, the first public appearance is given as 2019-09-30. The archived beta page dated 2019-03-18 shows the product was available publicly then. I am one of the makers. Could the date be changed, with the release date kept as 2019-09-30?"

Evidence turns a claim into a fact. Dated, independent evidence is best. An archived copy of a web page, such as one stored by the Wayback Machine, can show what a page said on a given date. A release note, a dated post or an official record all help.

How editors should respond

A well-run catalogue handles corrections consistently.

Acknowledge quickly. A short message saying the request was received and when to expect an answer.

Assess the evidence. Is it relevant? Dated? Independent? Does it support the claim?

Verify where needed. For sensitive changes, check that the requester is who they say, and is entitled to ask.

Decide and act. Make the change, partly make it, ask for more evidence or decline, giving reasons.

Record the change. What changed, when, why, who requested it, what evidence was used.

Tell the requester the outcome.

Tell other affected parties where appropriate, for instance a person named on an entry.

Set service targets, and publish them. "We reply within two working days and resolve most corrections within two weeks" is reassuring.

Keeping a history

Never silently overwrite. A record of changes serves everyone.

• Readers can see that an entry has been corrected and what was different before.
• Citers can specify which version they used.
• Makers can see what editors did.
• Editors can reverse mistakes and understand patterns.
• The catalogue remains a trustworthy historical record.

A change log entry typically includes the date, the field, the old value, the new value and the reason or source.

Some catalogues show a visible "last updated" date and a link to the change history. Others show only the date. At minimum, keep the history internally.

For corrections to dates and facts of significance, add a visible note on the entry: "Date corrected on 12 March 2024 on the basis of an archived page."

Disputes

Sometimes two people say opposite things.

A fair process:

1. State the question precisely. What exactly is disputed?
2. Ask each side for evidence.
3. Prefer primary, dated, independent evidence over memory or self-description.
4. Distinguish between fact and opinion. Facts can be checked; opinions ("the best", "the first of its kind") should not be stated as facts.
5. Decide on what the evidence supports.
6. Explain the decision to both sides.
7. Record the dispute in a note if the question remains open.
8. Allow review. New evidence should reopen the case.

Neutral wording helps: "The makers state that the product was first available in March 2019. The earliest archived page found by the editors is dated June 2019. June is used." This tells the reader what is known without taking sides unfairly.

Personal data and sensitive requests

Entries naming people raise privacy matters. Data protection law in many countries gives individuals rights over information about them, including to have inaccurate data corrected and, in some circumstances, erased. The Information Commissioner's Office publishes guidance for organisations on these rights.

Good practice:

• Make it easy to ask. A clear route and a plain explanation.
• Respond promptly, within the time the law requires.
• Verify identity proportionately.
• Correct inaccuracies without delay.
• Consider requests to remove carefully, balancing the person's rights against the legitimate purpose of the record. Explain the decision.
• Do not publish more than you need.

If a request is complex or legally sensitive, take advice.

Retiring versus deleting

A catalogue that deletes history becomes unreliable as a record.

Retire: mark the entry as no longer active, keep it, show the dates. This is right for products that closed or were replaced.

Rename: keep the entry, record the former name, redirect the old one.

Merge: when two entries describe the same product, combine them, keep both addresses working and record the merge.

Delete: reserve for entries that should never have existed: spam, fraud, duplicates with no unique information, or content that must be removed for legal reasons.

When something is deleted, consider leaving a minimal note that an entry was removed, without repeating the content, if that is appropriate.

Stopping errors at the source

The best correction is the one you never need.

• Make submission forms clear, with guidance on each field.
• Validate where possible: dates in valid form, links that work, required fields complete.
• Ask for sources for key facts.
• Review new entries before or soon after publication.
• Check regularly: links, status, duplicates.
• Ask makers to review their entries yearly.
• Invite readers to report problems from every page.

For makers: your responsibilities

• Keep your entry accurate. You are the best placed to notice changes.
• Report changes promptly: renamings, retirements, new addresses.
• Provide evidence when you ask for changes.
• Be honest. Do not ask for edits that misrepresent.
• Be patient and polite.
• Respect decisions while pursuing review through the stated route.

A short worked example

A reader notices that a retired product is listed as active and emails the directory with a link to the maker's announcement of closure, dated in January. The editors reply the next day, check the announcement and an archived copy, change the status to retired with the closure date, add a note, keep the entry and its history and tell the reader. A month later a different reader reports that a founder's role is shown as co-founder when the founder says sole founder. The editors ask both parties for evidence, receive a company filing that supports co-founder, keep the entry as is, explain to the complainant and add a note that the matter was reviewed.

Neither case was glamorous. Both left the catalogue more accurate and the people involved better informed.

On this site

The contact page is the route for corrections, the submit page lets makers update their own entries, the privacy page explains how personal data is handled and the launches page shows last-checked dates on entries. The search page helps you find the entry you want to correct.

The short version

Entries will need correcting. A good catalogue offers a clear route, acknowledges requests, weighs dated and independent evidence, distinguishes typographical, factual, updating, disputed, sensitive and removal cases, records every change with its reason and source, retires and renames instead of deleting history, handles personal data requests promptly and explains its decisions. Ask politely, give evidence and say who you are. A record that can be corrected is a record you can trust.