Use case / OSINT research
FOLLOW A CLUE. KEEP THE QUESTION OPEN.
A matching name or handle can be useful without settling an identity. Give the clue a place in your research and make the uncertainty easy to inspect.
OSINT learners and independent investigators
All identities and source excerpts in the exercise are fictional.
What does this match actually establish?
The fictional identity exercise introduces two people and several online accounts. A repeated handle suggests a question. The source material leaves room for more than one answer.
Keep separate records when the evidence is separate
Use typed people, online accounts, documents and events. Attach source details and citations to the record they concern. Do not turn a duplicate warning or a familiar name into an automatic identity decision.
Make the supporting passage easy to find
Select a relationship and inspect its type, analyst confidence and citations. Put contradictory material beside the relevant assertion. An uncited connection should be recognizable as such, not made persuasive by its position on the canvas.
Use AI as an input to review
Pasted text can become a proposal for entities and relationships. Check endpoints and excerpts, reject the interpretation that goes beyond the source, and apply only the items you choose.
Same handle, different person?
Read the fictional profiles, choose which source you would inspect next and compare the interpretations. Explain why an identity remains unresolved before changing its confidence.