Editorial standards

These are the standing rules every editor at 3tej agrees to follow. They are binding -- a piece that breaches them is corrected or withdrawn, and the decision is logged publicly.

1. Bylines and accountability

Every blog post, news article, and explanatory page carries a named author byline at the top of the page. The byline lists the editor's full name, role, credentials where relevant, and a link to their author profile. When a piece is also reviewed by a second editor before publish, the reviewer is named on the same byline (“Reviewed by ...”).

We do not publish under generic group identities (e.g. “Editorial team”) on substantive content. Anonymous attribution is reserved for purely operational copy such as legal disclaimers and footer chrome.

2. Corrections policy

When we learn a published piece contains an error, our standing rule is:

• Fix the page as soon as the correction is confirmed.
• Append a dated correction note at the bottom of the page describing what was wrong and what we changed.
• If the error materially affected an output (a tax bracket, a rate, a worked example), flag it visibly on the page until at least 30 days after the correction.
• Log the correction in a public errata list once the system supports it (target: launch with the next site rebuild).

We never silently edit substantive claims. Typo and prose corrections do not require a note; rate, bracket, formula, fact, and quotation corrections always do. Suspected errors can be reported via hi@3tej.com or the comment box on any page; we read every submission.

3. Fact-checking standards

Before publish, every claim of fact must be checkable against a primary source. Specifically:

• Rates and brackets are cited inline with the publication name and issue number from the relevant tax authority.
• Statistics are cited with the source organisation, study year, and dataset.
• Quotations are verified against the original transcript or document, not against secondary reporting.
• Anecdotes and case studies are labelled as such; they do not stand in for evidence.

4. Use of AI tools

AI assistants (large language models) are used as drafting and copy-editing aids. Any factual claim, rate, formula, or quotation produced by an AI is discarded and replaced with material verified against the primary source before publish. We do not let AI-generated text reach a reader unchecked.

We do not publish AI-generated images of people, AI-attributed quotes, or AI-fabricated source citations.

5. Advertising firewall

3tej carries third-party display advertising through Google AdSense. Ads are served by Google's network and we have no editorial control over what is shown to any individual reader. Two firm rules govern how advertising interacts with our editorial:

• Editorial decisions are made independently of advertising. We do not commission, edit, withdraw, or reorder content in response to advertiser interests.
• Ads are visually distinct from editorial. We do not run native ads, advertorials, or sponsored calculators dressed up as ordinary content.

6. Conflicts of interest

Editors disclose any personal financial interest, employment, or contractual relationship that could create a conflict on a piece they work on. Where a conflict is unavoidable, the piece carries a visible disclosure paragraph; in cases where the conflict is significant, the editor recuses and the piece is reassigned.

7. Affiliate and referral links

If an outbound link is an affiliate or referral, we mark the link itself with rel="sponsored" per Google's link-attribute guidance and include an inline plain-language disclosure (“we may earn a commission if you sign up via this link”). Affiliate revenue never influences which products or methodologies we recommend.

8. User-generated content (comments)

Comments on tools and articles are moderated. Submissions pass an automated Turnstile + spam check, and every comment is reviewed by a human moderator before becoming public. We remove comments that contain personal attacks, slurs, doxxing, sales pitches, or instructions for illegal activity. We do not edit the content of an approved comment except to redact obvious personally identifying information mistakenly published by the commenter.

9. Privacy and reader data

We do not require an account to use any tool. Calculators run entirely in the reader's browser; the numbers entered are not transmitted to our servers. Server-side logs (access logs, the comment + feedback database) retain only the minimum needed to operate the site and detect abuse. The full inventory of what we collect, what we keep, and for how long is documented in our privacy policy.

10. Not professional advice

Nothing on 3tej constitutes legal, financial, tax, medical, or other professional advice. The calculators do the math; they do not know your full circumstances. Always confirm consequential decisions with a licensed professional.