Real-question coverage validation kit
A useful question system must publish a bounded answer when one exists and admit clarification, no match, missing evidence or lack of authority when it does not.
This kit does not prove question coverage. It freezes how real submissions will be coded so moderator preference, repeated wording or a desire to improve the answer rate cannot turn an unsupported response into coverage.
Fixed decision order
- Not usable when consent, question meaning or the review record is insufficient.
- Scope refusal when the requested authority is outside this Neocaridina library.
- Clarification required when identity, method, timing, denominator or decision context is missing.
- Named evidence gap when an existing canonical gap owns the unanswered decision.
- Governed answer only when a valid path and complete answer boundary resolve the decision.
- Honest no-match for everything remaining. Do not force a similar page.
Outcomes and desk statuses
A governed answer resolves the decision at its stated boundary
Validation outcome: governed-answer
Compatible desk status: answered, added-to-guide, already-covered
The question needs more identity, method, timing, denominator or decision context
Validation outcome: clarification-required
Compatible desk status: not-usable
No current governed answer or named gap fits without forcing similarity
Validation outcome: honest-no-match
Compatible desk status: not-usable
The question resolves to an existing named evidence gap
Validation outcome: named-evidence-gap
Compatible desk status: needs-evidence
The request exceeds the library authority and receives a bounded refusal
Validation outcome: scope-refusal
Compatible desk status: out-of-scope
Consent, question meaning or the review record is insufficient
Validation outcome: not-usable
Compatible desk status: not-usable, withdrawn
Clarification required and honest no-match remain private review states until the question becomes answerable, maps to a named gap or closes as unusable. Neither can be published as a confident answer merely to improve coverage.
Moderation procedure
- Preserve the submitted question and context inside the private moderation boundary before assigning a theme.
- Check explicit scope refusal before textual matching so similar words cannot create false authority.
- Run the shared keeper-language navigator and record its first result or honest no-match.
- Review the complete governing guide, claim or gap rather than routing from a title alone.
- Assign one validation outcome using the fixed decision order and record every moderator override with a reason.
- Use only a compatible desk status; clarification and honest no-match do not become publishable confident answers.
- Publish only moderator-written de-identified wording with its governing path and retain adverse or unresolved outcomes in the audit.
- Rerun the fixed editorial benchmark after retrieval changes and inspect recurring failures at the protocol review point.
Calibration cases
Does matching TDS mean the seller water and my tank have the same minerals?
Context: The decision is how to compare two measured waters before receiving Neocaridina.
Expected path: /care/parameters
Why: The parameters guide directly explains the conductivity-derived display and its composition limit, so no improvised answer or new gap is needed.
What should I do with this shrimp?
Context: No taxon, photograph, observation, measurement, timing or decision is supplied.
Expected path: none
Why: Routing a generic animal question would manufacture meaning. The anonymous desk cannot request follow-up, so it remains private or closes as not usable.
Which exact vibration frequencies from a home aquarium pump change long-term Neocaridina reproduction?
Context: The request is Neocaridina-specific and answerable in principle, but no current guide or named gap governs a frequency-specific chronic reproductive decision.
Expected path: none
Why: A behavior or filtration page may share words but does not answer the frequency-specific chronic question. Preserve the no-match for editorial gap review.
Which measured transfer rate improves survival after shipping when source and receiving water differ?
Context: The question asks for a comparative receiving method and delayed animal outcome rather than the current bounded house protocol.
Expected path: /research/gaps/transfer-rate
Why: The acclimation guide explains current practice and limits, while the named transfer-rate gap owns the unanswered comparative claim.
How do I breed Amano shrimp larvae?
Context: The animal is Caridina multidentata rather than Neocaridina.
Expected path: none
Why: Shared aquarium language cannot make a Neocaridina library authoritative for another genus and a different larval life history.
Which antibiotic dose will cure the shrimp in this photograph?
Context: The request asks for diagnosis and prescription from an image without confirmed identity or agent.
Expected path: /care/health
Why: The health guide can support immediate system triage and observation, but the requested diagnosis and dose remain outside authority.
Please contact the other person whose full private details I included and solve this.
Context: The record violates the no-private-information confirmation and does not contain one reviewable keeper decision.
Expected path: none
Why: The private information must be removed and the record cannot become a public question or coverage success.
Is my tank ready because it has been running for six weeks and nitrate is visible?
Context: The keeper needs a commissioning decision and has not reported a known challenge.
Expected path: /care/cycling
Why: The cycling guide directly separates calendar age and nitrate presence from a recorded whole-system nitrogen-processing challenge.
Failure codes
These codes preserve the mechanisms that can make a coverage report look better than the underlying answers.
- forced-similar-match
- improvised-confident-answer
- unrecorded-moderator-override
- raw-submission-published
- repetition-treated-as-biological-proof
- private-data-copied
- no-match-hidden
- missing-governing-path
- status-outcome-mismatch
Blank audit record
- question id
- submitted date
- source category
- topic
- raw question preserved privately
- scope boundary checked
- navigator first result
- navigator no-match
- moderated path
- moderator override reason
- validation outcome
- desk status
- answer boundary complete
- public answer path
- failure codes
- retrieval or guide change
- named gap change
- raw submission redacted
- reviewer
The question desk owns consent, private review and moderator-written publication. The fixed editorial benchmark must still pass after retrieval changes.
Portable moderator materials
Download the structured kit or open the complete moderator text. Neither file contains community submissions or results.
Kit version 1.0, reviewed 2026-08-12.