Grounding

Grounding is tying a claim to an observation Firsthand holds. An ungrounded claim is not a weaker claim, it is a different kind of thing, and Firsthand will not render it as evidence.

Colour means evidence

The interface encodes this rather than describing it. Lapis appears only where Firsthand can point at an observation it holds. Oxide appears only where its own record contradicts a claim. thin is deliberately colourless, because absence of evidence should look like absence rather than like a warning.

A colour appearing where Firsthand cannot point at an observation is a bug, not a styling choice.

Corroboration is not repetition

An observation is corroborated when a different claimant left a record about the same agent. Nobody corroborates themselves. The busiest dossier in the indexed set holds 100 pieces of feedback from one claimant, and Firsthand reads it as thin, because a hundred repetitions by one party is one source speaking loudly rather than several agreeing.