Now more than ever, audiences demand accountability, transparency, equity, honesty, and integrity from the media. A new set of standards are required for our modern digital world. To that end, GeeksChalk writers and editors live by a strict code of ethics, with a single goal: provide the highest caliber of journalism, with transparency and accountability, and a broad array of voices and perspectives to truly reflect the diverse digital world we inhabit today.
Editorial independence
Audiences demand honesty and integrity from GeeksChalk and its content. To maintain our independence and uphold trust, Editorial staffers and freelance contributors cannot accept compensation of any kind in exchange for a review, news coverage, or inclusion in an article or video.
To further ensure the integrity of our coverage, the Editorial team maintains independence from other departments and will only cover stories, companies, and products that meet the needs of our audience. Communication between Sales and Editorial is important to the business, however, and that partnership is facilitated by the Editor in Chief.
In the interest of transparency for the audience, Editorial staff must not knowingly invest in the companies and products they cover. Any such investments must be disclosed to the reader.
Original Research
Our expert writers create tutorials as they use the Apple products and services themselves. We never rely on third-party instructions, manuals, or manufacturer/provider knowledge base content as first-hand information when creating articles.
Typically, if our expert doesn’t already own an Apple product or subscribe to a service they’re creating a how-to for, they purchase it. On rare occasions we’re provided an early look at a product or service and may receive access to it for free but we promptly return the product or cancel the service as soon as we’re done creating the instructions.
When creating troubleshooting content, a special type of how-to article, we primarily rely on the extensive skillset and specific product/service experience of a select few of our experts who work as tech support professionals. We require this kind of expertise because real-world experience working through problems means the best possible article to help you solve a problem.
We spend many hours researching and writing each how-to article, then more time in the editing and other reviewing phases, and then several more hours over time as we keep them updated. All of this ensures that you’re reading the most accurate, up-to-date, and easy-to-follow how-to on the topic online.
Clear and Precise Language
At GeeksChalk, we use a modified version of the Microsoft Manual of Style, a style guide specific for technical writing that helps keep our instructional content as clear and concise as possible so you’re able to follow along and avoid mistakes.
While the style guides our writers, editors, and reviewers work from are much more extensive, here are a few highlights that make a big impact on the quality of our instructions:
- Practice “Tech for Humans”: Write like you would speak to a friend. Avoid jargon and unnecessary tech-speak. Keep instructions simple and straightforward.
- Get to the Point: Answer the question immediately. Avoid tangents. Our readers want to quickly complete the task and move on with their days.
- Consistently Format: Use bold, italics, and other formatting the same way throughout the how-to to avoid confusion from step to step.
- Adhering to a strict style guide also helps us maintain consistency across our huge library of how-to articles so you know exactly what to expect next time you visit us for help or to learn something new.
No Confusion or Surprises
We create all of our instructional content with you in mind: you, a human being, who may be doing something for the very first time. So we do a lot of things throughout our how-to guides to help keep you confident throughout the process and avoid running into surprises along the way.
In the first few paragraphs, we make sure that you understand that you’re in the right place. We do that by making clear what you’ll accomplish, how long it might take, and what platform, product, or operating system the instructions apply to.
Throughout the instructions, we include specially designed callouts right at the moment you might need to know something a little extra. These are often tips to help the process go a bit easier but sometimes they’re important warnings to keep you from making a mistake that our expert writer has seen others make.
Many how-to articles on GeeksChalk cover topics that involve using apps or services from your iPhone or Mac. In those cases, we take every opportunity possible to include screenshots which show exactly what you need to do. When possible, we even annotate those screenshots to show exactly where you need to tap, click, or enter something on the screen.
Helpful for All Skill Levels
Our how-to articles are popular across skill levels, in part because we take care to craft them in a way that allows anyone to follow along at the pace, and with a depth of explanation and support, that feels most comfortable to them.
For a novice reader, who hasn’t done a task before and may need help understating concepts along the way, we link to supporting articles that define concepts, or even additional how-to articles that walk you through a more complex step in greater detail. This way, an expert user doesn’t have to read through explanations and definitions that they don’t need.
For an expert user, we’re careful to keep the first sentence of each step very short and directive, helpful for quickly skimming and getting whatever it is done quickly. When possible, we also summarize the steps in just a few bullets at the very top of the page which make it really easy to get something done when all you need is a reminder.
Diverse and Free of Bias
As part of our larger diversity and anti-bias initiatives, GeeksChalk is committed to creating instructional content that considers and celebrates the wide variety of experiences, abilities, locations, and life situations of those who read our articles.
We practice inclusion with our how-to content in a number of ways including using images of diverse groups of people, offering practical advice for a range of income levels, adhering to strict accessibility guidelines, and more.
Our writers, editors, and reviewers are also careful to avoid outdated technology terms with racial and gender bias.
Accurate and Up to Date
Technology changes constantly and so our how-to articles need to not only be accurate when published but also stay accurate. We have processes in place at GeeksChalk to ensure both of those things for our instructional content.
Technology Review Board
Experts write our how-to articles, and tech-savvy editors make sure they meet our strict standards, but we believe another layer of review is important to ensure every single fact, figure, and function is correct.
Our Technology Review Board, or TRB, does just that. This is a team of experts in their field who carry specific technical and industry certifications. They review our instructional and other supportive articles and make sure they’re as accurate as possible.
GeeksChalk Surveillance Team
When your iPhone gets a major upgrade, for example, the steps required to do this or that also often change, and so we must work quickly to reflect those changes in our articles.
The GeeksChalk Surveillance Team handles this work. This is essentially a small army of tech-savvy updaters who watch for these types of changes from manufacturers and service providers. Once a need is identified, a project is created, and work begins to quickly update the necessary how-to articles, so they reflect the changed process.
If you happen to notice that one of our how-to articles needs an update before we do, feel free to email us at [email protected].
Plagiarism
Fabrication of any content to any extent is unacceptable. It violates the trust of our audience. Plagiarism occurs when a portion of text is cut and pasted from another article, without citing where the text originally came from. It is not acceptable to merely make minor modifications to another publication’s wording or to duplicate its story structure.
At GeeksChalk we aspire to provide the highest quality content produced by humans, for humans. It is against our guidelines to publish automatically generated content using AI (artificial intelligence) writing tools such as ChatGPT.
We make every effort to ensure that our Editorial staff verify every piece of information on GeeksChalk, and our writers produce stories with original phrasing and structure and with additional information and context. Where we cannot verify someone else’s reporting, we will clearly link back to the original source.
Corrections, updates, and feedback
Minor errors are a fact of life; GeeksChalk deals with them promptly and transparently. GeeksChalk is committed to telling readers when an error has appeared, and to correcting it. This transparency applies to small and large mistakes, including news, but only if an error was made at the time of original publication. Corrections will be clearly noted on the page. When our journalism is factually correct, but the language is not as clear or detailed as necessary, the story may be updated without an editor’s note.Â
Readers who believe they have identified an error or mistake in our reporting are encouraged to contact the Editorial team directly via [email protected]. The team will examine the question fairly, with an open mind, and update articles as necessary.
Advertising
Editorial staff work solely on content for our audience. All content that is sponsored, promoted, an advertisement, or otherwise paid for must be marked as such to avoid any potential confusion for the audience.
Branded content
Branded content includes commissioned articles or videos meant to promote products, services, or a brand. To ensure the authority of our voice and content, branded content is produced completely independently of the Editorial department. It is managed exclusively by the Integrated Marketing team in support of advertisers and other forms of paid sponsorship initiatives.
To avoid confusing the audience, written branded content is clearly marked as “powered by” or “presented by” and is designed to look different from editorial content so a reader would not be confused or misled. Branded content will not display a byline of an Editorial team member. On social media, all posts adhere to Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) guidelines and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) rules governing disclosure of sponsorship, as well as platform-specific rules, where they exist.
Written branded content may use freelance talent, third-party spokespeople, and/or influencers, which are independent of the Editorial department.
Sponsored content
Sometimes, a company will underwrite proposed, existing, or ongoing Editorial content, but it cannot influence the content itself or interfere with its editorial integrity, which should continue to represent the needs of our audience. A sponsoring company will not have copy approval or specific considerations in the resulting content.
When content is sponsored, a brand’s media (ads and/or logo) will be present in or around the content, and is marked as “sponsored by” the applicable brand. Sponsored coverage can range from events such as CES or IFA to topics like Computing or Gaming to special series or features, for example.
Distribution
On occasion, we distribute sponsored Editorial content and paid branded content through our platforms. It is clearly labeled as “sponsored by” (for editorial sponsorships) or “paid content” (for branded content) in the post and further labeled using platform-specific tools, where possible.
Licensed and promoted content
Companies sometimes acquire the rights to reproduce or display part of an article we wrote, a video we produced, or a logo or badge we assigned to one of their products or services. This content could be used in an ad, on a company’s website and social channels, on product boxes, or for other purposes.
Additionally, companies may use editorial content for its own promotional purposes, including but not limited to, audience development, user acquisition, and/or other forms of brand promotion. This requires no advance notification or approval from the Editorial team.
This is testimony to the value of our opinions, as much as to the diligence of our processes, as companies look to license such quotes and awards only from the most trusted sources. Content licensing is handled by a licensing agency, independently of the Editorial team.
Legal
Lawsuits and legal issues can impact our ability to convey information to our audience, and as such, it is the responsibility of all Editorial team members to be alert to publishing content that may expose the company to legal liability. Potentially troublesome content should be brought to the attention of the Legal department and Editor in Chief for thorough vetting before publication. Truth is the best defense against libel.
Should GeeksChalk determine that it is necessary to publish such mate determine that it is necessary to publish such material, the Editor in Chief first brings it to the attention of our Legal department. The General Counsel reviews any such material and counsels the Editor in Chief and Publisher on how best to proceed.