{"registry":"Prediction Markets Institute — wording failure patterns","version":"1.0.0","revisedOn":"2026-08-17","url":"https://www.predictionmarketadvisors.com/patterns","licence":"Free to cite, quote and build against, with attribution to the Prediction Markets Institute.","patterns":[{"id":"PMI-WP-001","slug":"subjective-language","severity":"structural","title":"Subjective language","track":"Contract design & wording","definition":"The text contains at least one evaluative term whose application to a given state of the world depends on the reader — “significant”, “major”, “materially” and their kin. Two resolvers acting in good faith can reach opposite conclusions without either misreading the contract.","remedy":"Replace the term with a number, a date, or a named source.","revisedOn":"2026-08-17","withdrawnOn":null,"url":"https://www.predictionmarketadvisors.com/patterns/PMI-WP-001"},{"id":"PMI-WP-002","slug":"compound-condition","severity":"structural","title":"Compound condition","track":"Contract design & wording","definition":"More than one fact is bundled into a single resolution, joined by “and” or “or”, with no stated rule for the case where the halves resolve differently. The contract has no defined outcome for a partial truth.","remedy":"Split it into separate questions, or state up front how a partial truth resolves.","revisedOn":"2026-08-17","withdrawnOn":null,"url":"https://www.predictionmarketadvisors.com/patterns/PMI-WP-002"},{"id":"PMI-WP-003","slug":"no-resolution-source","severity":"structural","title":"No resolution source named","track":"Settlement & resolution governance","definition":"The text does not name whose account of the world settles the question. Absent a named source, resolution falls to whoever is holding the pen when the outcome is contested.","remedy":"Name the source and the specific publication it appears in.","revisedOn":"2026-08-17","withdrawnOn":null,"url":"https://www.predictionmarketadvisors.com/patterns/PMI-WP-003"},{"id":"PMI-WP-004","slug":"no-resolution-deadline","severity":"wording","title":"No resolution deadline stated","track":"Contract design & wording","definition":"The text states no date or bounded period after which the question stops being open. An unbounded question cannot be settled against, and cannot be shown to have failed to settle.","remedy":"State the date the question closes, and what happens if the event has not occurred by then.","revisedOn":"2026-08-17","withdrawnOn":null,"url":"https://www.predictionmarketadvisors.com/patterns/PMI-WP-004"},{"id":"PMI-WP-005","slug":"no-dispute-procedure","severity":"wording","title":"No dispute or tie-break procedure","track":"Settlement & resolution governance","definition":"The text does not say what happens when two readers disagree about the outcome: who decides, on what grounds, and within what window. A procedure designed after the first dispute is a procedure designed by the dispute.","remedy":"State the decision-maker and the appeal window before the market opens.","revisedOn":"2026-08-17","withdrawnOn":null,"url":"https://www.predictionmarketadvisors.com/patterns/PMI-WP-005"},{"id":"PMI-WP-006","slug":"no-halt-criteria","severity":"note","title":"No halt or suspension criteria","track":"Market integrity","definition":"The text states no basis for halting or suspending trading if the underlying event becomes contested or the resolution source stops publishing mid-market. Silence here is common and is not always a defect — venue policy may already cover it.","remedy":"Confirm the venue policy that applies, or state the halt criteria in the contract.","revisedOn":"2026-08-17","withdrawnOn":null,"url":"https://www.predictionmarketadvisors.com/patterns/PMI-WP-006"},{"id":"PMI-WP-007","slug":"numeric-threshold-without-rounding","severity":"note","title":"Numeric threshold without a rounding rule","track":"Measurement & calibration","definition":"A numeric comparison is stated without the precision and rounding convention needed to evaluate it identically twice. “More than 5%” resolves differently at 5.004% depending on where the reader rounds.","remedy":"State the measurement source, its precision, and the rounding rule.","revisedOn":"2026-08-17","withdrawnOn":null,"url":"https://www.predictionmarketadvisors.com/patterns/PMI-WP-007"}],"history":[{"version":"1.0.0","publishedOn":"2026-08-17","summary":"First published registry: seven patterns, drawn from the standing research agenda.","changes":["PMI-WP-001 through PMI-WP-007 published.","Identifiers fixed. From this version on they are stable and are never reused."]}]}