Interactive worksheet
Test the connection without assuming it.
This worksheet runs only in the current browser tab. It sends nothing, saves nothing, and deliberately avoids a download. Use neutral labels instead of addresses, dates of birth, account numbers, or other private details.
0 of 2 source rows started.
01 / State the claim
Verify one proposed connection at a time
Write the narrow question being tested without assuming its answer. A useful question names the two records and asks whether their own sources establish a connection.
Do not begin with a biography assembled from search results. That structure quietly treats the merger as complete before any evidence has been examined.
02 / Build four columns
Separate support, contradiction, provenance, and unknowns
For each source, record what directly supports the claim, what conflicts with it, where the information originated, and what the page does not establish. Keeping these columns separate prevents repetition from being mistaken for corroboration.
Use neutral descriptions instead of copying personal details. The matrix should preserve the logic of the check without becoming a new identity record.
- Direct support
- Contradictory context
- Source provenance
- Material unknowns
04 / End with limits
A conclusion should preserve what remains unknown
Summarize the strongest support, the strongest contradiction, and the missing evidence. Then choose supported, unsupported, or unresolved without forcing every check into a positive identification.
An unresolved result is useful when it prevents an unsupported merger. The matrix succeeds by making the evidentiary boundary visible to the next reader.
Working principle
Unknown is not an empty result; it is a boundary the sources have not earned the right to cross.
05 / Worked example
A live name query can contain several different people
In this fictional example, a search finds a portfolio, a directory entry, and an old event page under the same display name. The portfolio links directly to a confirmed profile. The directory lists no provenance. The event page supplies context that contradicts the proposed match. These are three separate records, not three votes for one identity.
Mark the first connection as supported only to the extent of its direct link, the second as unresolved, and the third as contradicted. The useful output is a reason for each classification, not a single confidence score that hides the differences. Keep accurate records about other people separate from any correction concerning your own information.
This example is a practice exercise, not an identification of real people. Record the visible evidence, separate ownership from resemblance, and choose an action only after the source relationship is understood.