Column · publish limits
A source that never states its limits is asking to be trusted everywhere, which is the same as being trusted nowhere. A stated boundary tells the reader exactly where the instrument stops, and therefore where it can be relied on.
The objection is that limits reduce sales. In practice the opposite happens for anything sold on judgment: a buyer who cannot see the boundary assumes you have not found it, and discounts everything.
The unit, the collection method, the coverage, the known bias, and the conditions under which the figure should not be used. Five sentences, and the number becomes usable by someone else.
Someone will use your number for something it cannot support, be wrong, and attribute the error to you. That is the predictable outcome of an unbounded claim.
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