Editorial policy: research, testing, and AI use

Last updated: September 14, 2026

This page explains how Nichestead chooses topics, checks facts, handles hands-on use, uses AI, labels sponsored content, and fixes mistakes. It applies to every post on the site.

The short version

  • Every fact in a post needs a source that was opened and checked. Facts that can’t be verified are left out.
  • Nichestead runs on an automated pipeline built with Claude. Claude researches topics, checks facts against the linked sources, drafts posts, makes diagrams, and captures real screenshots of nichestead.com.
  • JY.Choi owns Nichestead, chose its topics, and approved the pipeline and its rules. JY.Choi doesn’t read, edit, or fact-check a post before it goes live, so the rules on this page are built into every step of the pipeline instead.
  • Before a post publishes, it has to pass automated checks: a source check, a fact-to-source check, a banned-claims check, an AI-use note check, and a captions-and-disclosure check.
  • Every post carries a short note on how AI was used, and AI-made diagrams are captioned as diagrams.
  • Nothing is invented: no made-up tests, prices, quotes, reviews, or author details. Posts aren’t tested hands-on unless a post says so.
  • Sponsored content is always labeled, and a sponsor can’t buy a favorable verdict.
  • Readers can report a mistake through the Contact page. Fixes are made in the post, and meaningful corrections and updates are dated.

Topics Nichestead covers

Nichestead covers blogging and WordPress tools through tutorials, troubleshooting guides, and tool comparisons. JY.Choi chooses the topics, and a topic makes the list only when there’s evidence that people search for it, such as search suggestions, questions people ask, or keyword tool data. Priority goes to questions where current search results are thin, out of date, or miss what readers need.

Posts outside blogging and WordPress aren’t published, however popular the topic is.

How facts are researched and verified

Every post starts with a research file that Claude builds under fixed rules:

  • Sources get opened. A search snippet, an AI summary, or memory doesn’t count as verification. The claim has to appear on the source page itself.
  • Every fact carries a source link. A fact without one is deleted.
  • Primary sources come first: official documentation, company pricing and policy pages, standards bodies, and studies that publish their method.
  • Forums and social posts show what people ask about. They’re never the source of a fact.
  • Statistics are traced back to the original study or dataset. If the origin can’t be reached, the number isn’t used.
  • Facts that change, such as prices, plan limits, and policies, are dated with when they were checked.
  • When credible sources disagree, the post shows both sides with both sources, or leaves the point out.
  • Questions that can’t be answered with a verified source stay out of the post.

How posts are written

Claude writes each post from that research file, following Nichestead’s house style and search guidelines. The writing step has its own rules:

  • Every number, price, date, and product claim traces back to a verified fact in the research file.
  • Facts are checked against the linked sources again while the post is written.
  • General knowledge is used only to connect ideas, never as the basis for a factual claim.
  • Facts are credited in the same sentence, with a link to the source.
  • Sentences aren’t copied from other websites, and quotes stay short and attributed.
  • Nothing is invented: no experience, test results, prices, quotes, reviews, links, or author credentials.

Hands-on use and testing

JY.Choi started Nichestead with no blogging or WordPress experience, and posts aren’t tested hands-on unless the post says so. So the site doesn’t claim years of experience or a history of product testing, and every post is clear about what it’s based on:

  • When a post is based on official documentation or other sources, it says so and links those sources.
  • When a post describes a real WordPress setup, such as nichestead.com’s own, it says where the details come from and names the setup, such as the WordPress version, theme, and plugins.
  • When a post covers a paid product, it says how Nichestead got access: a paid plan, a free plan, or a free account from the company.
  • Nichestead doesn’t rank products in a “best” list without using them.

How AI is used

Nichestead runs on an automated pipeline built with Claude. JY.Choi owns the site, chose its topics and main setup, and approved building and running that pipeline, including publishing through it. From there, the pipeline does the work, and no person reads, edits, or fact-checks a post before it goes live. Here’s how the work is split.

Claude does this:

  • Researches each topic from sources it opens and checks under the verification rules above.
  • Checks facts against the linked sources during research and again while writing.
  • Drafts posts in Nichestead’s house style from that verified research.
  • Makes diagrams and illustrations with HTML and CSS, and simple graphics such as the lettermark used for JY.Choi.
  • Captures real screenshots of nichestead.com where a post needs them.
  • Runs the automated checks described below and publishes a post once it passes them.

JY.Choi does this:

  • Chooses the topics Nichestead covers.
  • Made the site’s main setup decisions, such as the domain, host, and theme.
  • Set the editorial rules on this page and approved the pipeline that carries them out.

JY.Choi doesn’t do this:

  • Read, edit, or fact-check a post before it goes live.
  • Take screenshots or run hands-on tests for posts.

Claude never does this on Nichestead:

  • Invent experience, test results, prices, quotes, or reviews.
  • Create fake screenshots, or images passed off as real.
  • Create a fake author photo or author persona.
  • Claim the site complies with any law.

Every post includes a short note on how AI was used for that post. The note says what Claude did, such as research, fact checks, drafting, diagrams, and screenshots, and what the post is based on.

Replies to readers’ WordPress questions may also be drafted with AI assistance. Before a question goes into an AI tool, the reader’s name and email address are removed, so only the question text is used. JY.Choi reviews each reply before it’s sent, since reader replies are handled separately from posts.

Automated checks before a post publishes

Nothing goes live on Nichestead without passing these automated checks first:

  • Source check. Every source link opens, and the page actually supports the claim it’s cited for.
  • Fact-to-source check. Every number, date, price, and factual claim in the post traces back to a fact in the research file and its source.
  • Banned-claims check. No invented experience, expertise, testing history, review, quote, or credential; no claim that the site or a post complies with a law.
  • AI-use note check. The post carries the short note described above, in the required place and format.
  • Captions-and-disclosure check. Diagrams and illustrations are captioned as such, screenshots are captioned as screenshots, and any sponsored or affiliate disclosure required by this page is in place.

A post that fails any of these checks doesn’t publish until it’s fixed.

Images and screenshots

Screenshots on Nichestead are real screenshots of nichestead.com, captured with Claude in the site owner’s logged-in browser. They never show passwords, email addresses, payment details, or personal account screens.

Diagrams are made by Claude with HTML and CSS, using the post’s verified facts. Each one is captioned as a diagram. They’re diagrams, not photos or screenshots, and they’re never designed to look like real screens. Illustrations, such as a post’s featured image, are also made by Claude and captioned as illustrations.

JY.Choi’s author image is a lettermark of the initials “JC”, not a photo.

Nichestead accepts guest posts, sponsorships, and paid reviews when they fit its readers, who start or run blogs on WordPress. They follow every rule on this page, plus these:

  • Sponsored content is always labeled. A sponsored post or paid review names the sponsor at the top, before the content starts.
  • Every sponsored link carries rel="sponsored", a tag that tells search engines the link is paid.
  • A sponsor can’t buy a favorable verdict. Payment doesn’t change what a post concludes, and sponsors don’t approve or rewrite verdicts.
  • A paid review says what it’s based on, hands-on use or documentation, and names downsides as well as benefits.
  • Guest posts carry the guest author’s real name, and their facts go through the same research and writing rules as every other post. Any link in a guest post that was paid for, or included as part of a deal, carries rel="sponsored".
  • Topics outside blogging and WordPress aren’t accepted, even when paid.
  • Links aren’t sold on their own. Paid links appear only inside labeled sponsored content.

To pitch a guest post or sponsorship, use the Contact page.

Updates and corrections

Posts are updated when the facts behind them change, such as new prices, renamed plans, changed settings, or discontinued tools. Corrections are also made when a reader reports a mistake through the Contact page. There’s no separate human review step that catches errors before they’re reported; readers finding and flagging a mistake is how most corrections start.

  • The “Updated” date on a post changes only when the content changed in a meaningful way. A typo fix doesn’t count.
  • A meaningful update gets a short dated note in the post saying what changed and why.
  • Errors are corrected in the post. A correction that changes a fact, a price, or a recommendation is included in that dated note.

To report a mistake, use the Contact page. Include the post and, if you have one, a source that shows the correct information.

Independence and conflicts of interest

Nichestead has no ads, analytics, affiliate links, or sponsored content today. These rules apply now and after any of them start:

  • Affiliate programs, ad revenue, and sponsorships don’t decide which products are recommended, how they’re ranked, or what the verdict says.
  • Every post with affiliate links has a plain disclosure above the first affiliate link, and affiliate links carry rel="sponsored".
  • Free products or accounts from a company are disclosed in the post.
  • Sponsored content is labeled as described in the section above.
  • If Nichestead or JY.Choi has a stake in a product, such as owning it or being paid by its maker, the post says so next to the first mention of that product.

The Affiliate disclosure explains how affiliate links will work.

Who writes Nichestead

Posts on Nichestead carry the byline JY.Choi, the site’s owner and publisher. Claude researches and drafts them through the pipeline described in the AI section above, and each post’s AI-use note says so. Guest posts carry the real name of the guest author. Nichestead doesn’t use invented author personas or anonymous staff bylines. You can read more on the Author page for JY.Choi.

Contact

Questions about this policy? Use the Contact page.