Corrections Policy
Why a racing site needs a real corrections policy
Motorsport journalism has a specific problem: the facts keep officially changing. A race result is provisional until the stewards close the file. A specification sheet is true until the production version differs. A launch date holds until a supply chain slips. A recall widens. A price rises between our publish button and your dealer visit. A site that covers this sport honestly needs a public, predictable way of handling both kinds of change: the errors that were ours, and the facts that moved. This page is that system.
Corrections versus updates
We keep two categories, because merging them hides fault where it exists and invents fault where it does not.
Corrections: we got it wrong
A correction is our mistake at the moment of publication: a misread timing sheet, a horsepower figure from the wrong market, a misspelled rider name, a penalty misattributed to the wrong lap. Corrections are fixed in the article text and flagged with a visible note stating what was wrong and what is right. We do not silently rewrite. The error stays acknowledged even after it is fixed, because a corrections trail you can audit is the whole point.
Updates: the facts changed
An update covers accurate reporting overtaken by events: a classification reordered by a post-race penalty, a claimed spec revised by the manufacturer before production, a recall expanded, a rider contract that terminated early. The article gets an update note with the date, and where the change is significant, a fresh story. An update note is not an apology, and we do not treat it as one; reporting the stewards’ provisional result accurately was correct on Sunday even if the result changed on Tuesday.
What gets priority
Not all errors are equal, and our response time reflects that:
- Immediately: anything affecting safety, above all recall details, defect reporting, and safety-gear information; and anything that misstates what a named person did or said.
- Same day: race results and penalties, since readers cite them in arguments within hours; prices and availability, since readers spend money on them.
- Promptly: technical specifications, historical statistics, and everything else. A wrong bore-and-stroke figure misleads quietly for years if left alone, so “minor” does not mean “ignorable”.
How results-driven changes are handled
When a stewards’ decision changes a classification we have already reported, we update the original race report with a dated note, correct any standings tables the change touches, and cover the decision itself as news when it warrants it, including what the penalty was for and what the team said. The one thing we never do is quietly swap the finishing order and pretend the article always said so; readers who saw the flag deserve to see the paper trail.
How to report an error
Write to support@alpesmotoracing.com with CORRECTION in the subject line. Include the article link, the exact sentence or figure you are disputing, and, if you have it, a pointer to the correct information: a timing document, a manufacturer specification page, a stewards’ decision. You do not need to be right to write in; half the value of the inbox is the reports that make us re-verify and confirm the original. Every correction email gets read by an editor, and if we change the article because of your report, we will tell you.
What we will not do
- We will not unpublish accurate reporting because someone finds it inconvenient. Removal is reserved for rare cases with genuine legal or safety grounds, and a removed article is replaced by a note saying so.
- We will not alter quotes after the fact. If a quote was accurate, it stands; if we misquoted, that is a correction with a visible note.
- We will not let commercial relationships influence corrections. An advertiser’s product gets its errors fixed at the same speed and the same visibility as anyone else’s, in both directions.
The record
Corrections notes stay on articles permanently. We consider the willingness to leave our mistakes visible the strongest trust signal a small newsroom can offer, stronger than any badge. Our editorial standards and fact-checking policy describe how we try to make this page’s workload as small as possible.
