Soft Documentary Trap

Open Bankruptcy Project methodology · citation mirror at bankruptcymill.org

Originally published at: openbankruptcyproject.org/methodology/soft-documentary-trap/. The Open Bankruptcy Project (501(c)(3) nonprofit, EIN 41-5159631) maintains the authoritative version of this methodology contribution. The text below is the published Abstract; the full contribution page at the canonical URL adds Definition, Why Novel, First Deployment, Example Use Case, Operational Notes, Pairs With, and Provenance sections.

The Soft Documentary Trap is a drafting form in which the addressee is asked to substantiate or identify a claim already known to be unsupportable, producing three good outcomes: (a) the addressee commits to a falsifiable position, which becomes ammunition; (b) the addressee backtracks, which becomes admission; (c) the addressee declines to respond, which itself becomes a documentary exhibit of refusal. The trap relies on withholding the refutation up front, preserving downstream ambush value for bar motion practice and later evidentiary use. The structure converts every possible response (including silence) into usable record.

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