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Forecaster
Complete research draft10 chapters plus methods appendix published
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FORECASTER · RESEARCH DRAFT

I NEVER SAID THAT

Who Owns Your Reputation When the Internet Can Invent You?

By Kevin L. MichelComplete research draft

A note before we begin

A note on earlier work: Stamped Identity considers ways of marking and establishing identity. This book returns to those concerns through a different problem: a false attribution already circulating, and the work of getting its correction back to the people who received it. No prose from Stamped Identity is reproduced.

The complete research draft is available here to read online. It remains open to revision; commissioning supports the finished, edited PDF edition.

Updated October 5, 2026. The finished, edited PDF edition is offered separately on the book details page.

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Contents

  1. 01

    A Sentence Beside Your Name

    A false attribution changes a person's working day before anyone has established where it came from.

  2. 02

    Ten Reports, Two Sources

    A small source map shows why repeated reports cannot simply be counted as independent confirmation.

  3. 03

    The File and the Event

    File history, identity, context and truth are separate questions that require different evidence.

  4. 04

    The Sentence That Stays

    Repetition, source memory and correction are different problems, and imperfect recall need not decide how we treat a person.

  5. 05

    Make a Record You Can Use

    A bounded record can help correct a false claim while protecting the people whose lives appear beside it.

  6. 06

    Send the Correction Back

    Correction delivery must be measured against the audience of the original claim, with attention and changed decisions tracked separately.

  7. 07

    When a Machine Repeats It

    A generated answer and its cited page must be checked separately before either becomes a judgment about a person.

  8. 08

    Before You Decide About a Person

    Fair decisions require clear claims, proportionate action, protection for complainants, and a genuine route to revise what was decided.

  9. 09

    Who Owes the Repair

    Repair duties should follow each actor's contribution and power, with corrections reaching the people and decisions the original claim affected.

  10. 10

    After the Last Search

    Tess sets a boundary around the remaining work, and the people who carried the error take responsibility for keeping its correction available.

  11. Method appendix: an invented report network

    Assumptions, reproducibility and limits of the invented report network and audiences.