Editorial Process

Our Editorial Methodology

Most sites in this category don't explain how they decide what to recommend. We think that's backwards — the method matters more than any individual pick, because the method is what you're actually trusting when you follow a recommendation. Here's exactly how Deskfield works, including the parts that are still incomplete.

How a guide gets made

Research the mechanism, not just the product. Before writing about what to buy, we research why something works — how a gas-spring monitor arm loses tension, why seat depth matters more than seat height, what the VESA standard actually specifies. This is what most "best of" content skips, and it's why our guides explain reasoning instead of just listing features.
Cross-reference against public standards and multiple independent sources where a real standard exists — our VESA guide is a direct example, built from the published VESA specification checked against several independent technical references, not from a single source.
Write with hedged, falsifiable claims — "typically," "commonly," "in most cases" — rather than absolute statements we can't back up. If we're not sure, we say so, including flagging where individual variation matters (body proportions, room layout, budget).
Every guide gets a human review pass before publishing — checking that claims are accurate, links work, and nothing reads like it was generated and shipped without a second look.
Guides get revisited, not just published once. Each article includes a note on what might go out of date and should be rechecked — pricing tiers, product availability, standards that could shift.

What we do NOT do

We do not publish "tested and reviewed" claims for products we haven't personally used
We do not copy or lightly reword recommendations from other sites and present them as our own findings
We do not invent statistics, prices, or specifications — where we cite a figure, it traces back to a public standard or verifiable source
We do not accept payment in exchange for a specific product recommendation or ranking placement

Why we don't do hands-on product testing

Deskfield doesn't buy and physically test the products it writes about. That's a deliberate choice, not a temporary gap — running an editorial site with real testing means either buying dozens of products at a real cost or accepting free units from brands, and the second option creates exactly the conflict of interest we're trying to avoid. So our guides are built on research, published standards, and mechanism-level reasoning instead — not on physically testing specific chairs, desks, or monitor arms. Where a guide would normally include tested product picks, we say so explicitly rather than filling the gap with generic recommendations or claiming testing that didn't happen.

How we substitute for testing, honestly

Instead of staff testing, we rely on three things: cross-referencing manufacturer specs and published standards (like our VESA guide), mechanism-level research into why a product category behaves the way it does, and — as the site grows — real photos and setups submitted by readers, which we'll credit and never present as our own testing. Our chair decision guide and standing desk buying guide are built as decision frameworks specifically because of this — they help you evaluate any product against what actually matters, rather than asking you to trust a "tested and approved" label we can't honestly put on anything.

Affiliate relationships and how they work here

Deskfield participates in the Amazon Associates program (see our privacy policy for the formal disclosure). Affiliate links, when we add them, will only point to products we've actually researched or tested — the commission structure never determines which product gets recommended.

Questions about this process

If something on the site doesn't match what's described here, or you think we've gotten a fact wrong, tell us — that's exactly the kind of correction this methodology exists to invite.