1. Core principles
- Accuracy: factual claims should be supportable and formulas reproducible.
- Clarity: market references, examples, estimates and opinions should not be blurred together.
- Independence: editorial conclusions are not sold to a commercial party.
- Proportional evidence: consequential or disputed claims require stronger sourcing.
- Correctability: pages remain open to documented challenge and revision.
2. Content types
Metal and price guides explain stable concepts, common quotation practices, units and transaction mechanics. Calculators implement formulas documented in our methodology. Historical research synthesizes primary documents, institutional records and scholarship, with notes or bibliographies. Examples use hypothetical numbers unless explicitly sourced and dated.
3. Source standards
We prefer primary and authoritative sources for definitions, standards, legal facts, benchmark mechanics and historical records. Suitable sources may include standards bodies, exchanges, benchmark administrators, government archives, museums, academic presses and peer-reviewed research. Reputable secondary sources help provide context and identify scholarly disagreement.
We do not treat an unsourced search snippet, generated text, anonymous promotional copy or another calculator's output as evidence. A source must support the particular claim attached to it. Where sources disagree, we aim to describe the disagreement rather than manufacture certainty.
4. Prices and time-sensitive claims
A market number is incomplete without its metal, basis, unit, currency, source and time. The static version of All Metal Prices does not publish live quotes. Calculator examples are labeled as examples and must not be represented as current market data.
If a live or delayed feed is introduced, the page should disclose the provider, quote type, timestamp or last update, expected delay, currency, unit and fallback behavior. A failed or stale feed must not silently appear current.
5. Calculator review
Each calculation tool should:
- label required inputs and default assumptions;
- reject impossible ranges where practical;
- make the price basis and weight units explicit;
- show or link to the formula;
- distinguish contained value from a modeled payout;
- state material exclusions;
- remain testable against independently worked examples.
6. Drafting and review
Content is reviewed for factual support, mathematical consistency, internal links, readable structure and claims that could mislead a transaction decision. Long-form research receives additional source and citation review. Review dates indicate when a page was last substantively checked; they are not refreshed merely to make a page look new.
Software-assisted workflows, including automated tools, may help organize drafts, check links, transform document formats or identify possible issues. Such tools are not sources. Their output must meet the same evidence and correction standards as any other draft.
7. Commercial relationships and conflicts
Advertising, sponsorship, affiliate relationships, free products or other material commercial connections should be disclosed where a reasonable reader would consider them relevant. Commercial partners do not receive a right to dictate factual conclusions. Paid placement, if ever accepted, must be visibly distinguishable from editorial content.
All Metal Prices does not currently operate as a metal dealer, exchange, broker, appraiser or assay service. A future change affecting this statement should be disclosed.
8. Reader safety
We avoid urging destructive testing or melting before a reader considers collectible, historical, artistic, brand and gemstone value. We do not present general education as personalized investment, legal, tax or appraisal advice. Content about fraud or testing should not imply that one superficial check proves authenticity.
9. Corrections
Specific correction reports are evaluated against available evidence. Typographical fixes that do not change meaning may be made silently. Material corrections should note what changed and when on the affected page or in an associated correction note. We do not remove an accurate correction merely because the original error is embarrassing.
See the corrections process to submit a report.
10. Updating and archiving
Stable educational pages are reviewed when standards, laws, market structures or material evidence changes. Pages that cannot be responsibly maintained may be clearly archived, redirected or removed. Downloadable files may preserve an earlier edition; the canonical HTML page is the preferred corrected version unless stated otherwise.
11. Reader feedback
Questions and good-faith challenges are welcome. Please include the exact page address and enough detail to reproduce the concern. For general correspondence, see Contact.