The deletion problem

If the publisher chooses which entries appear in a record, the set is the claim, and the set is the one thing that cannot be checked from outside. Every individual entry can be true.

There is nothing internally inconsistent about a curated record, which is what makes it durable. Auditing the entries confirms them all, and the audit never touches the question of what is missing.

The fix is not honesty; it is enumeration. A record where the total count is fixed in advance, publicly, cannot be curated afterwards regardless of the publisher's intentions.

Which is where it goes wrong. The total count is the field most often missing, and its absence is rarely presented as a limitation — it simply is not mentioned.

What to do with it. Ask for the number of selections made, not the number shown. If the two are not stated to be the same, the record is a sample chosen by the seller.