Editorial Policy
Bold Story exists to help people decide whether something is worth their money or their time. This page explains how we do that, so you can judge whether to trust it.
How we choose what to cover
We start from the question a reader is actually asking: which running shoe, which streaming plan, whether a subscription is worth renewing. We cover the things people are deciding between, in categories we can speak about usefully.
We do not build coverage around which brands have the best commission rates. Commercial availability is checked after the editorial decision, never before it.
How we assess something
Our assessments come from a mix of hands-on use, manufacturer specifications, long-term owner reports, professional testing published by others, and comparison against direct rivals at the same price.
We are specific about which of those a given piece rests on. If we have used something ourselves, we say so and describe how and for how long. If we have not used it ourselves, we say that too. We do not claim to have tested something we have not tested, and we do not describe a period of testing that did not happen.
How our scores work
Scores run from 1 to 10 and describe value at the price, not absolute quality. A budget product and a premium one can both score 8, for different reasons.
- 9-10 – Exceptional. We would buy it ourselves and recommend it without qualification.
- 7-8 – Good, with trade-offs we name explicitly.
- 5-6 – Competent, but beaten at this price by something specific, which we identify.
- 3-4 – Flawed. Buy only for a narrow reason we spell out.
- 1-2 – Avoid.
Most things are not exceptional. If our scores ever cluster at the top of this scale, the scale has stopped meaning anything, and we would rather fix that than flatter the products we cover.
Who writes Bold Story
Every article is written by a named member of our team and read by a second person before it is published. Our writers are listed with their areas of focus, and each byline links to everything that writer has published here.
Editorial responsibility for the site sits with the editor, who can be reached at contact@bold-story.com.
Our use of AI
We use AI tools in parts of our process, including summarising specifications, gathering source material, and drafting. We are open about that because we think readers are entitled to know.
What we do not do is publish machine output unread. Every article is edited, fact-checked and signed off by a person before it goes live, and that person is accountable for it. Where you find something that reads like it was not, that is a failure on our part and we want to hear about it.
Keeping things current
Prices, plans and product lines change. We review our most-read pieces on a rolling basis and date-stamp substantive updates. An article carrying a recent date has been checked recently, not merely re-saved.
Corrections
When we get something wrong, we correct it on the page and note what changed and when, rather than silently editing. Corrections go to contact@bold-story.com and we aim to respond within five working days.
Independence
Bold Story is funded by affiliate commission and advertising, set out in full in our Affiliate Disclosure. No advertiser, brand or affiliate partner sees an article before publication, and none of them can change a verdict, a score or a ranking. We would rather lose a commercial relationship than a reader’s trust in a recommendation.