The Exit Cost
Updated
The exit cost is this site’s label for a barrier to leaving that a source supports: money already put in, a public statement, social ties, or legal or reputational consequences. It is first applied in the piece on the Melian Dialogue.
How it is dated
An article on a hoax or a movement lists each barrier with the point at which the evidence shows it appearing or growing. A date range is acceptable. Where participants stood in different positions, the article notes the difference.
When the evidence falls short, the article says cannot be dated from the record.
What it does not claim
There is no exact tipping point in this term, and an article does not assume that everyone involved crossed a threshold on the same day. The label names what a record documents. Why a given person stayed is a separate question of interpretation, which an article attributes to a named scholar.
The other two terms are the last stone and the borrowed yes. How articles are checked is on Stone by Stone.