The repo that catches data mistakes before they cost you

Bjones has put together a GitHub repo called "Data Pitfalls" — a collection of common mistakes people make when working with data, laid out clearly so you can spot them early. If you've ever stared at a spreadsheet and wondered why the numbers don't add up, this is your spot.

The repo covers the stuff that trips up regular folks: misreading percentages, confusing correlation with causation, cherry-picking data to fit a story, and the classic "I saw it once so it must be true" trap. It's not written for data scientists in Silicon Valley. It's for people who actually use numbers — the abuela who runs a side business from her living room, the primos working gig apps, la gente trying to make sense of their pay stubs.

Why this matters for us: when we don't understand the numbers behind the stories told about our communities — pay cuts, rent hikes, policy changes — we let other people decide what's real.