Editorial policy
The sourcing standard, the claims we never make, the review cadence, and what happens when we get something wrong.
Sourcing standard
Every numeric or factual claim on this site needs a named source or shown arithmetic. There is no third option, and “studies show” and “experts say” are banned phrasings.
| Claim type | Required source |
|---|---|
| Animal behavior, jump distances, clearance | A named authority — Audubon, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, a university cooperative extension service, or a state wildlife agency. Cited inline with a link. |
| Product dimensions, materials, capacities, fit | The manufacturer’s or retailer’s own published listing, named and linked on the product card. |
| Fencing heights, mesh sizes, burial depths | A cooperative extension publication. These figures decide whether an installation works and we do not originate them. |
| Prices | The live price data layer only. No live figure means “Check price” — never a stale, remembered or estimated number. |
| Ratings and review counts | Not published. We do not render them and we never invent them. |
Every page ends with a Sources section listing what was cited, with links. If a figure on this site does not have a source next to it, that is a defect and we want to hear about it.
Claims we never make
- That we tested anything. No “in our testing”, no “we installed”, no “after six months of use”, no test rig. We have not, and asserting it would be a deception.
- Credentials we do not hold. No wildlife biologist, no Master Gardener, no certified arborist, no licensed pest control operator, no expert panel, no “reviewed by”.
- Tenure. No “long-time”, “veteran”, “seasoned”, “lifelong” or “X years”. The byline is an enthusiast, framed by interest rather than by time served.
- First-person product experience. We never write “I mounted this on my 4x4 and the squirrels gave up”. That sentence would be fiction.
- Invented figures of any kind — prices, ratings, review counts, dimensions, effectiveness percentages.
Structured data
We emit Article, ItemList, CollectionPage, BreadcrumbList, FAQPage, Organization, WebSite and Person markup. We deliberately emit no Review markup, no review-rating property and no aggregate-rating property, because each of those asserts a first-hand evaluation or a rating we do not have. Marking up an editorial opinion as a review rating would contradict this page.
Handling disagreement between sources
Where reputable sources disagree, we show the disagreement, name both parties, and explain which we think is right and why. We do not quietly adopt the figure we prefer.
The worked example is baffle mounting height, where Audubon publishes four to five feet and a ranking affiliate page publishes six to ten. The clearance guide lays out both and shows the arithmetic that resolves it.
Review and update cadence
- Continuously — the live price layer refreshes on a daily schedule. A price refresh alone never changes a page’s “last updated” date or its sitemap entry, because that would tell search engines every page changed every day until they stopped believing us.
- Quarterly — every roundup is reviewed by hand: pick order, availability, the skip call, and spec accuracy. The date changes only if the content did.
- Twice yearly — every guide’s factual claims are re-checked against their cited sources.
- On discontinuation — a pick that goes out of production is replaced and the change is noted on the page.
Corrections
Send corrections to info@baffleworks.com. They are handled ahead of everything else.
- Factual errors are fixed and noted on the page. We do not silently edit a number and leave the page looking as though it always said that.
- Broken or redirected source links are repointed at the current location, or the claim is removed if the source has gone.
- A discontinued product is replaced with the reason recorded.
- Typos and formatting are fixed without a note.
Independence
Baffleworks is funded by affiliate commission and by nothing else. We accept no sponsored placements, no free products and no paid reviews. Amazon’s commission is a category rate that does not vary between the products we compare, so there is no rate to chase even if we wanted to. The full statement is on the affiliate disclosure page, and how we pick sets out the ranking criteria.