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We buy nothing on trust. Every recommendation starts from what goes wrong.

Evidence Standards

This page sets out what we accept as evidence, what the research box at the top of every article means, and what we will not claim. It is the standard each article is checked against before it is published and whenever it is revised.

What counts as evidence

In order of how much weight we give them:

  1. Published standards and regulations. UL, ASTM, ANSI, NFPA, ISO and FMVSS standards, and the Code of Federal Regulations. Where a standard is behind a paywall we cite the standards body’s own summary and say that is what we read.
  2. Regulator data and recall notices. The CPSC, NHTSA, FDA, EPA and FTC, and their equivalents where a product is sold under another regulator.
  3. Manufacturer documents. Specifications, manuals, installation guides and warranty terms. These are attributed to the manufacturer in the text, because a manufacturer’s figure is a claim, not a measurement we made.
  4. Published research and institutional guidance. Peer-reviewed studies, university extension services, professional bodies and safety institutes.

We do not treat the following as evidence: marketing copy (except as a record of what a brand itself claims), star ratings and anonymous reviews, forum posts, affiliate listings, or anything produced by an AI tool. A common buyer complaint can be described as a complaint, without figures and without attributing it to anyone who did not say it.

The minimum for every article

  • At least three sources, each opened and read, linked in the article’s Sources list.
  • Every figure, standard number and safety claim traceable to one of those sources. A figure we cannot trace is removed, not softened.
  • Our own judgment labelled as judgment. The Fear Index and the risk estimates in shortlist tables are editorial estimates; how we analyze explains how they are scored.
  • No quotes, test results, ownership experience or measurements that did not happen.

What the research box on each article means

Every article opens with a short box headed “How this article was researched”. Each line means exactly this:

  • Sources checked: the number of sources in that article’s Sources list, and the sites they are published on. Follow the link to see them.
  • Last reviewed: the date the article was last edited, and the editor whose byline it carries.
  • What was checked: the figures, standards and safety claims in the article, against those sources.
  • What was not done: no hands-on testing, no lab measurements and no price tracking. The shortlist is a set of product types that avoid the failure the article describes, not a ranking of tested models.

What we do not claim

We do not buy, borrow or test the products we write about, and we do not run a lab. We do not track prices, so no article tells you a price is low, high or about to change; prices are left to the retailer’s own page. We do not publish star ratings, and we do not mark up articles as product reviews for search engines, because they are not reviews of an item someone used.

If an article ever includes first-hand material, such as a photo of a product we bought or a measurement we took, it will say what was done, when, and on which unit, and show it. No article claims that today.

How articles are written

First drafts are produced with AI writing tools, working from the sources linked in the article. The editor, Luka, checks the draft against those sources, edits it and approves it for publication. AI output is never used as a source for a fact. The editorial policy covers independence, samples and reader contributions.

Dates, updates and corrections

The published date is the day an article first went live. A note saying an article was updated appears only when its content actually changed. Errors are corrected in place. To report one, write to support@analysisoffear.com or use the contact page, and include the article and the source that contradicts it.