“Verified” is the most abused word on the internet. It is used for a paid badge, a confirmed email address and a genuine investigation, which means readers have learned to ignore it.
So it is worth being exact. On GullyStory, verification describes how thoroughly a particular story was checked. It is not a rating of your organization, it cannot be purchased, and it is recorded per story rather than granted once.
The three levels
Every published story carries exactly one of these, and the label is shown to readers along with a sentence explaining it.
Information provided by a verified organization, with basic supporting information.
What it claims: a real, identified organization said this about itself, and we confirmed the organization is who it claims to be. What it does not claim: that we independently established the facts.
This is the honest label for most routine announcements — a new course, an appointment, an expansion. It is not a lesser badge. It is an accurate one.
GullyStory reviewed supporting evidence for the important claims in this story.
What it claims: an editor looked at documents, records or photographs behind the material claims — the numbers, the dates, the thing that makes it news — and they held up.
This is where most well-prepared stories land, and the gap between it and the level above is usually one phone call you could have saved us.
Supporting evidence and an independent source confirm the material claims.
What it claims: the evidence held up and somebody with no stake in the story confirmed it — a partner, a supplier, an institution, a public record, an official.
The independent source is the whole difference. It is the only level at which a reader is not relying on your word at all.
How to move up a level
Almost nobody is stuck at a lower level because of the facts. They are stuck because of what did not arrive with the submission.
| To reach | Supply |
|---|---|
| Organization Statement | A verified organization account and a named person behind the claim |
| Evidence Verified | Documents or records for every number and date in the story |
| Independently Verified | The above, plus one contactable third party who can confirm it |
That third party is the step organizations skip, and it is the cheapest of the three. The partner you did the deal with, the college whose students you placed, the body that certified the unit — one name and a phone number, supplied up front, changes the label on the story.
Organization verification is a separate thing
Confusingly but importantly: verifying your organization is not the same as verifying a story.
Organization verification happens once. You register, supply documents that establish the organization exists and that you are authorized to speak for it, and an editor reviews them. That is what lets you publish at all, and it is what puts a verified marker on your profile.
Story verification then happens every time, on the merits of that story’s own evidence. A thoroughly verified organization can still publish an Organization Statement, because that is all one particular announcement warranted.
What verification is not
- Not for sale. No level can be paid for. Sponsored items are labelled as sponsored and get no verification advantage.
- Not an endorsement. It says the claims check out, not that we think you are good.
- Not permanent. If a claim later fails, the story is corrected or withdrawn, and the record of that stays public.
- Not a favour. An editor cannot raise a level because you asked. They can only raise it because something arrived that supports it.
Why bother
Because the label is the only thing separating your announcement from the identical announcement on a press-release wire. A reader who has learned that “verified” means nothing is a reader who believes nothing — including the true thing you are trying to tell them.
The full rules are in the verification policy, and what we do when something turns out to be wrong is in the corrections policy.