Summary#

This extension is about filtering links using metadata (information attached to links and/or their sources), not just factor labels.

Typical examples:

• include only links from a particular district / gender / age band
• exclude links marked with a caveat tag (e.g. ?doubtful)
• include only links with a particular sentiment band or code

When to use it#

• Group comparison: get a clean view of “group A only” vs “group B only”.
• Quality control: exclude links you tagged as weak/hypothetical/needs checking.
• Scoping: focus on a section of the material (e.g. a particular question, time period, or separator block) if that exists in your metadata.

What it does (plain language)#

It takes the current links table (already filtered by your chosen sources and any upstream filters) and keeps/removes rows based on:

• a chosen field (a column), and
• one or more values you want to include or exclude.

Practical cautions#

• Know what the field means: some fields live on links (tags, sentiment), others live on sources (custom columns), and some are derived.
• Order matters: if you apply transforms that rewrite labels earlier, you may change what you consider “the same” link/factor when comparing groups.

Formal notes (optional)#

This is a links-table filter. Given a predicate \(P(\text{link row})\), it returns:

• include-mode: \(L' = { \ell \in L \mid P(\ell) }\)
• exclude-mode: \(L' = { \ell \in L \mid \neg P(\ell) }\)

The predicate is usually defined by: (field = f) AND (value ∈ allowed set), with UI-specific matching rules (exact match vs substring, case rules, etc.).