How we stay independent
The difference between a verifier and an affiliate site is mechanism. Here is exactly how money is walled off from scores — and an honest account of what we run today versus what we'll add as we grow.
How we're funded
Evidence: Funding never touches scoring — the mechanism is below and is enforced in code. See where →
The wall between money and scores
The scoring engine cannot read commercial data. Affiliate links, deals and commercial notes are stored in a separate field group the scorer has no access to — this is a property of the locked Trust Engine, not a promise.
Evidence: Enforced by the Foundation-Locked engine architecture (computed-not-typed scores; commercial fields isolated).
Why rankings can't be bought
Operators are ordered mechanically: published trust score, then coverage, then name. There is no editorial or commercial override, and any featured placement (if ever introduced) is a clearly-labelled slot that never reorders the trust ranking.
Evidence and the audit trail
Every score is backed by dated evidence, and every computation is written to an immutable audit log. Findings are reproducible, not opinions.
Evidence: The testing and evidence behind findings are documented in How we verify. See where →
What we run today — and what's planned
We describe only what is true now, and separate it from what we'll add as the team grows. No governance theatre.
- Founder-led: testing, evidence, review and publication are currently done by the founder.
- Trust Engine, audit log, methodology, evidence requirements and scoring controls are live.
- Evidence integrity: capture, SHA-256 hashing, chain-of-custody, redaction.
- Formal segregation of duties: separate reviewer/approver (tester ≠ verifier ≠ publisher).
- Independent review and approval controls once verification volume justifies them.
Who's accountable — and contesting a finding
How decisions are made, how operators can reply or contest a finding, and how corrections work: Accountability & corrections.