Editorial policy

Who writes and who reviews

Every published page names an author and a reviewer, and they cannot be the same person. The reviewer’s job is to check each factual claim against the source or test session attached to it, not to copy-edit. Both names appear at the top of the page along with the date the review happened.

Publication states

Content moves through fixed states, and only one of them is public:

1. Idea
2. Researching - sources are being collected and dated
3. Draft
4. Fact check - each claim is matched to a source or test session
5. Ready for review
6. Published
7. Needs update - a source has changed or the review date has passed
8. Archived

Everything before “published” carries a noindex directive. Draft content is not indexed even if someone links to it.

What the publishing tool refuses to do

• Publish a guide with no author, no reviewer, no review date or no source
• Mark a product as tested without a tester, a session, recorded wear hours, an ordered size, notes, a reviewer and a calculated score
• Accept the phrases “we tested”, “best overall”, “editor’s choice”, “squat proof” or “true to size” unless the specific evidence for each exists
• Publish a star rating we did not collect from real reviews

Corrections

When we get something wrong we correct the page and record what changed in its update history, which is public at the bottom of the page. We do not silently edit a claim. If a correction changes the conclusion, we say so in the correction note rather than only changing the text.

Review cycle

Evergreen guides are reviewed at least every twelve months, product-linked content every six months, and price-sensitive content whenever the price data goes stale. A page past its review date is flagged in our admin dashboard and marked “needs update”.

Commercial independence

• Advertisers and affiliate partners cannot change a score. Scores are computed from test sessions and specifications; offers live in a separate table and are not an input.
• We do not accept payment for placement in a best-of list or for a review.
• We publish the products we would not recommend, and the reason, in the same guides as the ones we do recommend.
• Where we have only the brand’s specification sheet, the page says “official specifications only” and no testing language is used.

The commercial side is described in full on the affiliate disclosure page, and our use of AI on the AI content policy page.

Sourcing rules

We source from:

• Official brand product pages, size charts, material and care information
• Approved affiliate APIs and product feeds
• Our own testing
• Community testers who have given consent
• Citable authoritative references, named on the page

We do not:

• Copy or paraphrase another publication’s article
• Republish another site’s photography
• Scrape user reviews in bulk
• Present someone else’s experience as our own

Contact

Corrections and complaints go through our contact form. We read every submission in the admin dashboard.