Our Checklist for Every Article

Each article on Pacific Bay goes through the same list before it is published, whether it explains a savings rate, a tyre marking or a shop layout. The list is not complicated, but we do not skip items when a deadline looms. Here it is in full, so you know what to expect from every guide and can hold us to it.

Before writing

1. Is the question real? The topic should come from a reader, from a problem one of us met during the week or from a gap we found in the archive. We avoid writing articles nobody needs.
2. Who is asking? We picture the reader: a shop owner after closing time, an employee comparing accounts at lunch, a driver standing next to a car. The article has to make sense to that person.
3. Where are the primary sources? Manuals, regulators, official guidance, product terms and standards come first. If we cannot find a primary source for a claim, the claim does not go in.

While writing

4. Answer first. The opening lines give the short answer. Everything after that is the explanation, the steps and the exceptions.
5. No invented numbers. We do not make up statistics, prices, survey results or quotes. Where a worked example needs figures, they are labelled as made-up examples.
6. Cautions beside the step. Anything involving mains electricity, fuel, lifting, money or legal deadlines carries its warning at the point where it matters, not in a footnote.
7. Country differences flagged. If a rule, rate or requirement varies by country or state, the article says so.
8. Something you can use. A list, a table or a set of steps, so that a reader can act on the guide rather than just read it.
9. Links that help. Related articles on the site are linked where they add something, so a reader can go deeper without searching.

Before publishing

10. The cold read. A second writer on the desk reads the draft with no briefing and marks every sentence that confuses them or seems to promise too much.
11. Advice boundaries. Money, property and legal pieces are checked once more to make sure they explain rather than recommend, and that they point to qualified help.
12. Brand mentions. Where a business or product is named, it should illustrate the topic. A mention is not a ranking.
13. Dates and names. Product names, menu labels and rule references are checked against the latest version we can find.

After publishing

14. Corrections first. When a reader reports an error, it is checked and fixed ahead of new work.
15. Revisions dated. When an article changes in substance, the date at the top changes too.

You can see the list at work in pieces like APY vs APR, where the worked example is built on a rate labelled as made up and the comparison never turns into a product pick, or What Size Generator Do I Need for My House?, where the safety notes appear beside each step.

If you think an article falls short of any point here, tell us through the contact page. You can read more about the people applying the checklist on The Pacific Bay Desk.