--- title: "Fact-Check Policy" date: 2026-08-27 author: "John Clark" --- # Fact-Check Policy Appliance reporting fails most often not because writers invent things, but because they repeat a spec, a price, or a repair step from somewhere that never checked it. MyHomeAppliances treats every figure, certification, and manufacturer claim as untrusted input until it has passed the verification described below. ## Scope The verification stack applies to every factual claim in a MyHomeAppliances article. “Factual claim” means anything a reader could later quote or act on. In practice that covers: - **Reported figures:** prices, capacities and dimensions, wattage and energy-use figures, filter and flow ratings, warranty lengths, test results - **Identifiers:** model numbers and SKUs, certification marks (NSF/ANSI, Energy Star, UL, WQA), recall numbers, error codes - **Dates:** launch dates, recall dates, price-check dates, service-bulletin dates - **Attributions:** who said what, in which manufacturer manual, service bulletin, certification registry, or recall notice - **Derived figures:** calculations from primary data, with the underlying inputs and the arithmetic shown Editorial analysis, forward-looking assessment, and opinion are flagged separately. When we draw a conclusion, we cite the evidence behind it. ## Source Hierarchy We rank sources by how close they sit to the original information. | Tier | Examples | Use | |—|—|—| | Primary, technical | Manufacturer manuals, service bulletins and specification pages, certification registries (NSF, Energy Star, UL, WQA), standards bodies | Default for technical claims | | Primary, governmental | CPSC recall notices, EPA and Energy Star program data, FTC actions and guidance, court filings | Default for recalls, rulings, and statutory claims | | Primary, commercial | Brand pages with a stated testing methodology; retailer listings for current pricing, dated on the day we checked | Used with the methodology disclosed in our article | | Secondary, accepted | Coverage by an outlet that itself cites a tier above and links to it | Treated as a pointer; we then cite the primary directly | | Secondary, rejected | Affiliate roundups that tested nothing, aggregator spec pages, marketing decks, press releases without underlying data, AI-generated summaries | Not used | If another publication breaks a story, we name them and link to the original story, then trace and cite the primary source ourselves. ## The Verification Stack The stack runs in three phases. Each phase has hard gates: an article cannot move past a phase until every claim in it has passed. ### Phase 1: Capture (deterministic, automated) - **Fetch and hash.** Every source URL is fetched, the publication date is recorded, and a SHA-256 of the page is stored. Re-fetching later detects silent edits. - **Excerpt extraction.** The verbatim sentence or paragraph that supports each claim is captured before the article is drafted. - **Claim tagging.** Every factual sentence in the draft links to the excerpt that backs it. Untagged factual sentences fail this gate. ### Phase 2: Cross-check (mixed, automated and reviewed) - **Verbatim match.** Quoted strings in the article must match the captured excerpt character for character. - **Math check.** Every derived figure is recomputed from the underlying inputs; any mismatch blocks publication. - **First-pass classifier.** Each claim is checked against its excerpt and returned as supported, uncertain, or contradicted, with a confidence score. - **Second-pass re-check.** Numerical claims, superlatives, and any first-pass result below threshold are re-run against a stricter check. - **Source-tier upgrade.** Any claim leaning on a secondary source is re-checked against a primary equivalent before publishing. ### Phase 3: Sign-off (human, named) - **Volatility refresh.** For active recalls and live price changes, any source older than 48 hours is re-fetched before publishing. - **Editorial review.** The editor re-reads the piece end-to-end against the verification log before it is scheduled. An article is never marked as reviewed by its own author. - **Audit log archived.** The full verification log (every claim, source, decision, score) is archived against the article ID for later reference. ## Threshold and Failure Handling Each claim carries an internal confidence grade. The publish threshold is fixed; claims below it cannot ship. If the verification stack flags a claim mid-process, the writer has three options: re-source from a higher-tier reference, rewrite the claim narrower so the existing source supports it, or remove the claim. There is no fourth option. ## Independence MyHomeAppliances earns commissions on some links, including through the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. Commissions never influence which products we recommend, the order we rank them in, or the ratings we give; a product we would not recommend does not become recommendable because it pays. Sponsored content is labeled and produced separately from editorial. Where an editor has a conflict, the article is reassigned. ## Refresh Cadence Product lines and prices change often. Roundups and reviews are revisited on a fixed schedule and whenever a product is discontinued or recalled; repair guides are re-checked against the current service documentation. Each article carries its last-reviewed date. ## Corrections Send factual-error reports through our [contact page](/contact/). We respond to every correction request, log the change against the article, and refresh the audit log. Last reviewed: 27 August 2026.