Editorial policy
This page states how WattPicks assigns, reviews, and updates editorial content — and what commercial relationships are never allowed to buy.
Independence
WattPicks is an independent comparison site. Manufacturers do not approve copy before publication. Affiliate commissions (see affiliate disclosure) fund the site but do not set ranking order, invent missing specs, or require a positive verdict.
Who writes
Named editors in the authors directory own bylines. Articles are assigned by beat (camping, home backup, solar, capacity math, founding editor). Drafts go through a Hub workflow: product covers, SEO title/description, and a final check that claims match the published dataset.
What we refuse
- Fabricated authors, experts, credentials, or testimonials.
- Invented reviews, ratings, or lab scores we have not produced.
- Estimated or borrowed specifications presented as measured facts.
- Paid placement in rankings or “best of” order.
- Composite scores presented as instrumented measurements.
Conflicts of interest
Editors do not accept gifts, travel, or payment in exchange for coverage. Product loans, if any, are disclosed in the article and do not change dataset values. Personal ownership of a reviewed model is disclosed when it would reasonably affect a reader’s trust.
Advertising and affiliate labeling
Affiliate links use sponsored/nofollow marking where the template emits them. There is no separate display-ad inventory that overrides editorial modules. Sitewide disclosure lives in the footer and on the affiliate disclosure page.
Corrections and updates
Spec errors are fixed in the underlying Hub dataset so the correction propagates on the next publish — not patched on a single HTML page in isolation. Editorial wording fixes ship through the normal content-sync. Report an error via contact or feedback. Material dataset changes appear on the catalog changelog.