Methodology · Story Quality
Not every article that enters Updat3 becomes a story. Here is how we decide what has enough verified content to show in the feed.
Every article gets a content score from 0–100 based on how much usable text we can extract. Articles score higher when we have access to the full body text, not just a headline or excerpt.
Headline only
< 200 chars of text · Content score 0–18
Not used for story summaries
Excerpt
200–2,500 chars of text · Content score 18–52
Used with caution; summary may be thin
Full text
> 2,500 chars of text · Content score 52–100
Full enrichment, richer context
A story only appears in the feed when it passes all of the following checks:
Filters out blank or corrupt entries
Ensures a real summary exists, not just a headline copy
Ensures the Updat3 article is substantive, not a placeholder
Ensures background context was generated, not skipped
Prevents single-fact stub stories
Filters stories too vague to be useful
Stories that pass the publishing gates are ranked in the feed by a decay-weighted score:
score = decayFactor × 100 + log₂(sources) + importance × 0.5Where decayFactor halves every 12 hours, sources is the number of linked articles, and importance is an optional editorial weight (0–10).
Stories with only one source older than 72 hours are hidden — they haven't attracted additional coverage and are likely too niche or unverified to surface reliably.