Authoritative Sources

Domain Authority Database

Supplements general reputation tiers in source-verification with domain-specific authorities.

Software Architecture

Source	Authority	Notes
martinfowler.com	Primary	Patterns, refactoring, enterprise architecture
c2.com/wiki	Historical	Original wiki; pattern language origins
microservices.io	Domain-specific	Chris Richardson's microservices patterns
architecturenotes.co	Curated	ADRs and trade-off analysis
infoq.com	Industry reporting	Conference talks, practitioner reports
thoughtworks.com/radar	Trend tracking	Technology Radar adoption lifecycle

Cloud Platforms

Source	Authority	Notes
docs.aws.amazon.com	Official	AWS, well-architected framework
cloud.google.com/docs	Official	GCP services and practices
learn.microsoft.com	Official	Azure, .NET, Microsoft ecosystem
kubernetes.io/docs	Official	Container orchestration
docs.docker.com	Official	Container runtime

Security

Source	Authority	Notes
owasp.org	Standards body	Web app security, top-10
nist.gov	Government	NIST CSF, SP 800 series
cve.mitre.org	Vuln database	CVE identifiers
nvd.nist.gov	Vuln database	NVD with scoring
csrc.nist.gov	Crypto standards	FIPS, module validation
cisa.gov	Government advisory	Security advisories

Standards Bodies

Source	Authority	Notes
ietf.org / datatracker.ietf.org	Protocol standards	RFCs: networking, HTTP, TLS, DNS
w3.org	Web standards	HTML, CSS, WCAG, web APIs
iso.org	International	Quality, security, process frameworks
ecma-international.org	Language standards	ECMAScript spec
unicode.org	Character standards	Unicode encoding

Programming Languages and Frameworks

Source	Authority	Notes
docs.python.org	Official	Python, stdlib, PEPs
go.dev/doc	Official	Go language, stdlib
typescriptlang.org	Official	TypeScript handbook
rust-lang.org/learn	Official	Rust book, reference
developer.mozilla.org (MDN)	Canonical web ref	JS, HTML, CSS, Web APIs
docs.oracle.com/javase	Official	Java spec, API docs

Data and Databases

Source	Authority	Notes
postgresql.org/docs	Official	PostgreSQL
dev.mysql.com/doc	Official	MySQL
redis.io/docs	Official	Redis
mongodb.com/docs	Official	MongoDB
cassandra.apache.org/doc	Official	Cassandra

DevOps and SRE

Source	Authority	Notes
sre.google	Industry	Google SRE books
12factor.net	Methodology	Twelve-factor app
dora.dev	Research	DORA metrics
openpolicyagent.org	Policy-as-code	OPA docs

Domain-Specific Search Strategies

Architecture Topics

1. Canonical authors: {topic} site:martinfowler.com or site:microservices.io
2. Conference talks: {topic} QCon OR StrangeLoop OR GOTO conference
3. Books/papers: {topic} book OR paper architecture
4. Adoption status: {topic} site:thoughtworks.com/radar
5. Local docs: Grep in docs/research/ and nWave/skills/

Security Topics

1. Vuln databases: {topic} site:cve.mitre.org or site:nvd.nist.gov
2. Advisories: {topic} site:cisa.gov or site:owasp.org
3. NIST frameworks: {topic} site:nist.gov
4. Vendor advisories if product-specific
5. Prioritize last 6 months

Framework and Library Topics

1. Official docs (see database above)
2. Release notes/changelogs for version-specific info
3. Migration guides: {framework} migration guide {version}
4. GitHub issues/discussions for known problems
5. Stack Overflow: {topic} site:stackoverflow.com

Methodology and Process Topics

1. Original author/publication
2. Case studies: {methodology} case study OR experience report
3. Critiques: {methodology} criticism OR alternative OR comparison
4. Academic: {topic} site:arxiv.org or Google Scholar
5. Practitioner adaptations vs original definitions

Source Freshness Rules

Category	Max Age	Rationale
Security vulnerabilities	6 months	Rapid threat evolution
Framework versions	1 year	API/practice changes
Cloud service docs	1 year	Frequent deprecation/launch
API references	1 year	Breaking changes common
Architecture patterns	Evergreen	Core patterns stable
Methodology references	Evergreen	Foundational works stable
Language specs	Evergreen per version	Per-version permanent
Research papers	3 years	Check for follow-up work
Industry trend reports	1 year	Cite current edition only

Handling Outdated Sources

1. Check if newer version exists
2. Stable concept: cite with "[Published {year}; concept remains current]"
3. Time-sensitive: find current source or document age limitation in Knowledge Gaps
4. Never cite outdated security advisories as current threat intelligence