Validating Case Data and Birth Time
Audit birth records, location, time zone, calendar conventions, and uncertainty before using a Bazi case to support any interpretive claim.
Overview
Case quality begins with data provenance. Record the source of the birth date, local clock time, location, historical time zone, daylight-saving status, calendar notation, and confidence level. Preserve the original record and derive normalized inputs without overwriting it. Then apply a declared year boundary, month boundary, day boundary, and true-solar-time policy. When time is missing or disputed, publish scenarios and suppress conclusions that depend on the hour pillar instead of selecting the chart that best fits known events. Rectification is an interpretive hypothesis, not a replacement for documentary evidence. A case with uncertain inputs can still be useful if its limitations remain visible.
At a glance
- Original record
- Date, local clock time, place, notation, source, and confidence
- Normalization
- Calendar, coordinates, IANA zone, DST, and historical offset
- Declared policies
- Year, month, day, hour, and solar-time boundaries
- Uncertain time
- Scenario range with hour-dependent outputs suppressed
- Rectification status
- Hypothesis requiring independent corroboration
- Invalid shortcut
- Choosing the chart that best matches a known story
Preserve the source record and confidence
Capture the exact document, testimony, transcription, or database field from which each value came. Record whether the time is exact, rounded, recalled, or inferred.
Keep the original language and calendar notation. A normalized timestamp should be derived and traceable, not silently substituted for the source.
- Store source and confidence per field.
- Never overwrite the original record.
Normalize location and civil time reproducibly
Resolve place to coordinates and an historical time-zone rule, then check daylight-saving gaps, overlaps, and political offset changes. Do not apply today’s offset to an earlier birth automatically.
Declare lunar-to-solar conversion, solar-term precision, year and month boundaries, midnight convention, and true-solar-time policy before calculating pillars.
- Use historical time-zone data.
- Version calendar and boundary policies.
Represent uncertainty with scenarios
If a field spans a range, calculate every materially different pillar scenario and label which conclusions survive across them. Suppress hour-dependent claims when the hour is unknown.
Rectification may rank hypotheses, but known events used to choose the time cannot then count as independent validation. Seek records or new evidence not used in selection.
- Show stable and unstable conclusions.
- Do not reuse fitting events as validation.
Do not manufacture precision
A precise-looking chart does not repair uncertain input. Report the uncertainty in titles, summaries, structured data, and downstream tools rather than burying it in a footnote.
Birth data is sensitive personal information. Use consent, minimization, access controls, retention limits, and deletion paths, especially for third-party cases.
- Precision must follow evidence.
- Protect personal data throughout the case.
Sources and editorial basis
- 《御定星曆考原》卷一《星曆考原》的曆法、節氣、干支與時間材料提供出生日期正規化和邊界政策的傳統曆學背景A historical source for stem and branch Yin-Yang, Five Phase, direction, seasonal, and calendrical correspondences.
- 《欽定協紀辨方書》《協紀辨方書》的節氣、曆日及干支推算資料用於核對民用日期、交節與干支分界，不替代歷史時區紀錄A historical calendrical and date-selection compendium cited by exact volume when OpenFate discusses its time cycles, seasonal tables, or calculation boundaries.
- OpenFate Editorial Methodology案例資料校驗頁要求保留原始紀錄、歷史時區、夏令時間、曆法版本與不確定情境，校時不能冒充文件證據OpenFate separates deterministic chart calculation, traditional interpretation, and modern editorial explanation.