FDE BenchmarkPublic document reader
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Decision record: naming and claims vocabulary

Date: September 2, 2026
Decision authority: founding steward, under the transitional rule in GOVERNANCE.md §2
Status: adopted for the v0.1 Public Draft; reviewable by the FDE Benchmark Commission once seated
Enforced by: apps/public-site/scripts/verify-publication.mjs and the pull-request template

1. What was decided

  1. The system is named by its three outputs, never by a score. The public names are the Verified Production Record, the Capability Profile, and the Governed Credential Tier, as defined in the three-layer outcome architecture. The phrase "FDE Score" is retired as a product name, a working mark, and a headline. It named the single global number that SPEC.md §4 and SCORING.md rule 11 prohibit, and it is descriptive and unprotectable.
  2. The method is described in one sentence. "AI-assisted observation, human-rated, deterministically computed." No public surface may state or imply that a trained model assesses a person or produces a result. The evaluator card records that the shipped evaluator uses no learned model; the specification forbids any AI system from writing a score.
  3. The Commission is described as proposed until it is seated. Public copy uses "the proposed FDE Benchmark Commission (not seated)" until the roster, conflict register, funding register, and activation receipts required by INDEPENDENCE_FIREWALL.md §5 are published. The words "official", "independent", "Commission-audited", "validated", "certified", and "accredited" are reserved until the corresponding stage receipt exists.
  4. One product name. The public name is LockedIn FDE Benchmark, matching the specification, the trademark policy, and the citation record. The variant "LockedIn Labs FDE Benchmark" is withdrawn from page metadata and interface text.
  5. Marks struck from the strategy documents. FDE SCORE, FIELD-VALIDATED FDE, and LOCKEDIN FIELD-VALIDATED FDE are removed from the working-mark list. A future credential needs a coined, distinctive name owned by the non-service-providing structure selected under the firewall's structural-entity decision.

2. Why

The founder's original framing, a proud number on a résumé raised by shipping production work, contains three products with different owners, error modes, and legal footprints. Separating them keeps the honest half, the production record, buildable now, and moves the number behind the scalar-score authorization gate where it belongs. A benchmark whose spoken pitch contradicts its normative text is the fastest way to lose the audience it needs.

3. What changes in the repository

  • The publication verifier fails the build if "FDE Score", a staffing link, a talent-matching entry point, or a named fixture person appears in the public-site source.
  • The strategy handoff renames "The FDE Score and Profile" and strikes the withdrawn marks.
  • The press release is held until it matches the site.
  • Sponsor tiers are rewritten so that no payment confers a vote, a seat, a logo, or endorsement language.

4. What this decision does not do

It does not authorize a score, tier, credential, or result of any kind; does not seat the Commission; does not clear any trademark; and does not change the specification's normative text. Those require the gates recorded in LIVE_VS_PLANNED.md.