Editorial policy

This is the reference version. The plain-language summary of how picks are chosen lives on the about page and is not repeated here. What follows is the part a compliance reviewer, a journalist or a careful reader would actually want to audit.

1. Sourcing and citation

Every factual claim about a product, a standard or a market gets a source. The source is named, linked where a link exists, and dated where the source carries a date.

• Primary sources are preferred: manufacturer specification sheets, standards bodies, regulator publications, published test data.
• Secondary aggregators are a last resort and are labeled as such on the page, so a reader can weigh them accordingly.
• Nothing is cited that was not actually read. If a source cannot be linked or named, the claim is not made.
• Nothing is asserted from memory. An unverifiable figure is left out rather than approximated.
• Where a manufacturer will not publish a specification that matters for the category, the page says the figure is undisclosed rather than estimating it.

The research documents behind this hub follow the same rule, including a section in each listing what could not be verified. A page with no citations and no claims is more credible than a confident page with neither.

2. Testing claims

A testing claim is only made where testing actually happened. Where it did, the page records which unit was tested, how it was obtained, how long it was used and what went wrong. Where it did not, the page says so in the same sentence structure, every time, so the absence is as visible as the presence.

Original photography of the actual unit is the evidence standard for a hands-on claim. Stock imagery is never presented as first-hand evidence. If there is no original photo, there is no hands-on claim. The category-by-category methodology sets out what hands-on means for each kind of product.

3. Use of AI

AI tools may be used for research assistance, outlining and copy editing. They may not be used to generate a verdict, a score, a ranking or any statement of first-hand experience, and no page is published without a human having read every line of it.

AI-generated imagery is never used to depict a real product, a real person or a real test. A model that confidently invents a specification is exactly the failure mode this whole portfolio exists to avoid, so any figure an AI tool surfaces is verified against a primary source before it appears on a page, or it is dropped.

4. Conflicts of interest

• No paid placements, no sponsored rankings, no advertising deals carrying editorial conditions.
• No manufacturer sees a verdict, a score or a draft before it publishes.
• Commission rate is never a ranking factor and is not consulted when a list is ordered.
• Where a product is supplied free of charge, the page says so in the same place it says how long the product was used.
• Samples are not returned in exchange for coverage, and a refused sample is never a reason to mark a product down.
• No holdings in, or payment from, any manufacturer covered. If that ever changes, it gets disclosed on the affected pages before anything else happens.

How the portfolio earns is set out separately and in full on the affiliate disclosure page.

5. Corrections

Errors get fixed on the page itself, and material corrections carry a visible note saying what changed and when. The full process, including what qualifies and how long it takes, is on the corrections page.

6. Changes to this policy

This policy applies to all Magoo Media Group sites at once. It changes only in a deliberate edit, never silently, and a change that loosens a rule will say so plainly rather than being folded into an unrelated update. There is no revision date stamped on this page, because the policy has not changed since it was published and a false date would be the small lie this document cannot afford.

Think a rule here is wrong, or that one of our sites has broken one? Write to contact@magoomediagroup.com. See also the about page and the portfolio this policy covers.