How the record is built

Reside Atlas is a record, not a ranking. Here is how it is assembled and what its limits are.

Where facts come from. Each fact on a community page is a separate assertion with a source, a date, and a confidence level. Sources are labeled precisely: government record, community website, public web source, community-provided, or staff-verified. When sources disagree, the page says so. When a community provides a fact, it is shown as stated by the community until independently verified.

Which value is shown. When more than one source gives a value, the page shows the one highest in this order: staff-verified research, government registry, the community's own website, verified community submission, third-party directory, reviewer evidence. All sources remain visible.

What unknown means. A field shows "not yet verified" when we have no source. It shows "not publicly disclosed" when a source says it is private, and "does not apply" when the field is meaningless for that community's model. None of these is a judgment.

How experience reports are verified. A writer's relationship to the community is verified with evidence appropriate to that relationship: a booking or host confirmation for a visit, application correspondence for an applicant, a lease or membership agreement for a resident, plus a dated end for a former resident. Staff review the evidence, record the method and decision, hold the evidence encrypted for 30 days after a final decision, and then destroy it.

How ratings are shown. Reports rate only the dimensions the writer could observe. A visitor does not rate exit fairness. Distributions are shown only when a community has at least five eligible reports from at least two kinds of relationship. There is no overall score.

How search is ordered. Results match your filters first, then prefer pages with verified content (a report, a tour, or a staff-verified fact), then the most recently sourced. Review count is available as a sort option but is not the default, because volume is not quality.

What we do not do. We do not infer spiritual orientation, income sharing, governance, or legal structure from a label. We do not copy descriptions from other directories. We do not show a location more precisely than a community's visibility setting, which defaults to approximate for any page the community has not confirmed.