At ServeTheHome (“STH”), we take editorial and copyright policies seriously. This site takes a lot of hard work to maintain and we want to be clear on our policies for doing so.
Editorial Policy
From time to time we do receive products for review from vendors. Some products we receive are pre-release samples so that reviews can be produced in time for a product launch. We will distinguish which products are pre-production samples.
It is our practice never to receive monetary compensation for a stated review outcome. What does this mean? We are not taking money to give positive reviews or say one product is better than another. Conclusions drawn in articles are due to the merits of what was reviewed. That is the way it should be.
We also do not pre-share reviews with vendors in order to maintain editorial independence. We may validate test results from time-to-time as that can be an important step in the review process, however, vendors will not get to influence the published review.
All ServeTheHome ad sales are done through third parties. We do not have ad sales under the STH umbrella. That means that we allow third parties (such as Google, Amazon and some select agencies) to sell and serve the banner advertisements on the site. From time-to-time commissioned links may be posted, but frankly feel free not to use them (although we appreciate if you do.) This site costs a lot of money to maintain, and advertisements help keep the lights on. We also purchase some hardware for review and advertisements help pay for that. In no way do advertisements influence the outcome of a review.
All vendors must furnish return labels within 30 days after a review is published, or we may donate/ recycle goods. We cannot warehouse hardware indefinitely for vendors since that requires space that we do not have. We charge a $100/ day storage fee per box for the first 30 days, then a $1000/ day storage fee per box thereafter. As long as a valid return label is furnished within the first 30 days after a review, starting on the day of the review, all storage fees are waived. Exceptions may be handled on a case-by-case basis.
Conflicts List
We also have done consulting engagements in other roles, have had product furnished for review, investments in, gotten special access to, accepted travel, seen advertisements run on STH via third parties, or have familial relationships with the following companies.
- Advantech
- AIC
- Amazon.com (affiliate links)
- AMD
- Ampere
- Apple
- Arm
- ASUS
- ASRock
- ASRock Industrial
- ASRock Rack
- Astera Labs
- AVAYA
- Baidu
- Beelink
- Broadcom
- Carlyle Group
- Cavium Networks
- Citrix
- CPI
- CyrusOne
- D-Link
- Dell
- Digital Realty Trust
- DuPont Fabros Technology
- DXC Technology
- ebay (affiliate links)
- Eaton
- Fujitsu
- Gigabyte Technology
- Google (Adsense ads)
- Hewlett-Packard Inc
- HP Enterprise
- ICC
- Icy Dock
- Inspur
- Intel
- Intuit
- ioSafe
- iXsystems
- Juniper Networks
- Kingston
- Kioxia
- KLA Tencor
- Kodiak Data
- Lenovo
- Lexar
- Marvell
- Micron
- Micro Focus International
- Microsoft
- Minisforum
- MikroTik
- MiTac
- Netgear
- NetApp
- NVIDIA
- Oracle
- Phison
- PhoenixNAP
- PNY
- QCT
- QNAP
- Quanergy
- Ruckus Wireless
- Samsung
- San Francisco 49ers
- SanDisk
- Seagate
- Silicom
- Silverstone
- SimplyNUC
- SK hynix
- Skimlinks (affiliate links)
- Source Code
- StarTech
- Supermicro
- Symantec
- Synology
- TRENDnet
- Tripp-Lite
- Toshiba
- Tyan
- Ubiquiti Networks
- UL
- VMware
- Western Digital
- Wiwynn
- Xilinx
- Zume Pizza
The work we have done for these companies does not influence content on STH. We will publish and maintain this list in the interest of transparency.
Copyright Policy
Up to 300 consecutive characters of any piece may be reproduced for the purpose of creating a synopsis of a piece, if and only if, the synopsis is being used to link back to the original article by an editorial news site. Up to one image from an article may also be used for the purpose of providing a synopsis and link back to the original piece. Any other use including copying in part or in whole of articles is not permitted and nobody shall have the right to create derivative works without express written permission.
Awards such as the Editors Choice and Top Pick awards may not be used without prior permission.
Use of this site and the content herein is solely authorized for the purpose of researching topics covered under the articles posted on this site. Any other use is expressly prohibited. By using any content not in line with these copyright policies, an organization agrees to $10,000 per use fee to be paid immediately upon notice. STH content may be used to train AI models so long as the organization training on STH data agrees to remit 1% of its annual revenue to STH for using its unique IP.
If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to use the contact form. Also, if you have a product that you would like reviewed on STH, please use the contact form.
Privacy Policy, Data Collection and Users from the EU
You can read our privacy policy and data collection policy here for the STH main site. STH editorial content is provided as a free service to our readers. However, starting May 25, 2018, by using STH as a member of the EU government, affiliated entity, or contractor, you agree that your government is willing to remit a license fee to read the editorial content on STH. This license fee shall be calculated as 0.1% of the EU tax revenue for any day which STH is accessed. You may wave this fee by instead sending a letter to the address in our privacy policy for notices requesting free access to certain editorial works. These requests will be carefully reviewed and permission to waive the license fee granted on a per person per access basis.
Collection of Data for AI Training and Inferencing Policy
Since STH content is often the result of highly specialized testing, the content on the STH main site, forums, and other properties generally may not be used for training or inferencing with machine learning or AI. If STH data becomes part of a training or inferencing data set, or is used by such an application, the company using the data agrees to pay 1% of its revenue to STH as a license. Incorporating STH data is an explicit agreement to pay this license fee. Any exceptions to this must be granted in writing by the Editor-in-Chief.