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ggrigs⌘K

Code of conduct

Last updated April 21, 2026

Affiliate marketing has a long list of deceptive practices that are common, profitable, and bad for readers. ggrigs rejects them explicitly. This page exists so you can hold us accountable if we ever drift.

What we will not do

Fake urgency

  • No fake countdown timers.
  • No "only 2 left at this price" unless the retailer's live inventory API explicitly says so.
  • No "flash sale ending in X minutes" unless the retailer is running an actual time-bounded promotion.

Fake social proof

  • No "1,237 people are looking at this right now" counters.
  • No "Trusted by [logos]" widgets with stock media logos we don't have real relationships with.
  • No fabricated reviewer testimonials.

Fake expertise

  • No "our certified experts tested this" on products we haven't personally tested.
  • No first-person testing language ("I tested," "in my hands," "after two weeks") on editorial-roundup posts where we don't own the product. The "Editorial roundup" badge + in-body disclosure + our internal banned-phrase publish guard all enforce this.
  • No invented scores. Aggregated scores trace to cited reviewer sources; first-hand scores come from our own rubric applied to products we own.

Fake pricing signals

  • No "Was $X → Now $Y" crossed-out prices unless we have the actual MSRP + a verified current price from the retailer.
  • No "Lowest price ever!" or "Cheapest we've seen!" claims unless we have retailer permission to display aggregated pricing data.
  • No price displays we can't verify. Where we don't have PAAPI-sourced prices, the BuyBox says "Check price on Amazon" — we don't invent a number.

Fake sponsorships

  • No sponsored content labeled as editorial.
  • No "paid to rank higher" product placements. Editorial decisions are independent of commission rates.

Fake scarcity

  • No invented "limited edition" or "exclusive to ggrigs readers" claims.
  • No invented expiring promo codes.

What we will do

  • Disclose our affiliate relationships on every page.
  • Cite sources for factual claims on editorial-roundup posts.
  • Link to competitors' coverage when theirs is stronger than ours.
  • Correct mistakes in place, mark the correction, and bump the "Updated" date.
  • Publish this code of conduct, so you know what we're promising.

What happens when you spot a violation

Email [email protected] with a link + what's wrong. We treat violations of this code as bugs — investigate, fix, acknowledge publicly if material. Repeated violations are an editorial failure worth public accountability.

Why this exists

Many affiliate sites that use these practices earn short-term revenue but get algorithmically punished (Google Helpful Content) or terminated (Amazon Associates ToS enforcement) within 12–24 months. We're not uniquely virtuous — we're betting that the long-term compounding of an honest site outperforms the short-term extraction of a dishonest one. Time will tell.

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