Every dispatch on this site carries a reading. Here is how to take one yourself.
The instrument
Two columns. On the left, FACTS: verifiable claims made during the action. Bill numbers. Vote counts. Dollar figures anyone could check. On the right, FEELINGS: everything else.
You will find the left column is not merely small. It is frequently empty, and the interesting part is that this is never noticed, because nobody at any point tried to make a factual claim. The genre does not require one. You cannot fact-check “we must resist.” There is nothing in it to check.
Companion gauges
- The XP Counter. Engagement earned, set against outcomes changed. A typical reading: 4,000 likes, 0 votes moved. Both numbers are real. Only one is reported.
- The Dump Stat. Bills read. It is always zero. It has never not been zero. We keep the field in anyway, in the spirit of scientific honesty.
- The Loot Table. Common: a photograph of yourself. Uncommon: a repost from a larger account. Rare: a form-letter reply from a Senate office. Legendary: an actual policy position, stated in your own words, that could be wrong.
A note on the method
The gauge is a joke, but it is not a cheat. The rule here is that where we state a fact — a vote, a filing, a figure — it is real and checkable, and where we invent, we label it. Those two things never get mixed, because the moment they do, we become exactly the thing the gauge is measuring.