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Editorial Policy

Last updated: July 2025

1. Our Editorial Mission

CalcBot is a curated browser-games portal, not an automated content farm. Every game page is hand-written by our editorial team — we play the game, take notes, write the description, document the controls, and only then publish. We do not auto-generate or mass-produce content. Our goal is for a visitor to land on any CalcBot game page and within ten seconds understand what the game is, how to play it, whether it will work on their device, and what to try if it doesn't.

This policy applies to every page on the site that contains descriptive prose: game pages (/play/*), category pages, the homepage, the About page, and the legal pages you are reading now.

2. Content Standards

Before a game page is published (or kept indexed), it must contain all of the following elements:

• Unique description (200+ words). Written in plain language by a human editor. Must explain what the game is, who it appeals to, and what makes it interesting — not just rephrase the title.
• Accurate controls. Keyboard keys, mouse actions, and touch gestures — verified against the actual game.
• Compatibility info. Which devices and browsers the game works on (desktop Chrome, mobile Safari, Chromebook, etc.).
• Troubleshooting section. The two or three most common things that go wrong (game doesn't load, fullscreen blocked, audio muted) and how to fix them.
• FAQ. Three to six genuinely useful questions and answers, not filler.
• Content notes. Any age-suitability or content warnings the player should know about before pressing play.
• Last-tested date. The date a human editor last loaded the game and confirmed it still works.

Pages that do not meet these standards are marked noindex (excluded from search engines) until they are improved. Pages that cannot be improved — for example, a game whose publisher has taken it offline — are removed from the catalog entirely.

3. Original Content

All descriptions, how-to-play guides, tips, FAQs, and editor's notes on CalcBot are original to CalcBot. We do not copy from other gaming sites, wikis, app-store listings, or publisher marketing copy. Where we mention a third-party brand (for example, the name of a game's publisher), we use it for identification only and do not imply endorsement.

If you believe any text on CalcBot was copied from another source — yours or someone else's — please email contact@calcbot.net with the URL and the original source. We will investigate and, if confirmed, rewrite or remove the content within 72 hours.

4. Sourcing & Embedding

Games on CalcBot are embedded via <iframe> from public publisher content delivery networks (CDNs). We do not host, copy, proxy, or redistribute game files. Each game page's "Game Details" table credits the source (typically a public GitHub Pages repository or a public game CDN) so visitors can verify origin.

Our 22 self-made games (Snake Classic, Maze Runner, Color Match, etc.) are the exception — these are 100% first-party React components built and maintained by the CalcBot team. They contain no third-party assets, code, or trademarks. For more detail, see our Game Licensing & Embed Policy.

5. Review & Update Cycle

Game pages are not "write once and forget." We re-test games on a rolling basis:

• Featured games (shown on the homepage or category landing pages): re-tested monthly.
• Long-tail games: re-tested quarterly.
• After a user report: re-tested within 48 hours of the report being filed.

If a re-test finds that the embed is broken, the page is either fixed (if the publisher has simply moved the file) or marked noindex and removed from the sitemap until the issue is resolved. If the game cannot be restored within 14 days, the URL returns 410 Gone or redirects to a related game. See our Game Testing Policy for the full process.

6. AI-Assisted Drafts

We are not anti-AI. We use AI writing tools in our workflow — primarily for first-draft scaffolding, brainstorming, and summarizing our testing notes. However, the following rules are non-negotiable:

• Every draft is human-reviewed. No AI-generated text is published without a human editor reading it line by line.
• Every factual claim is fact-checked. Controls, compatibility, troubleshooting steps, and gameplay descriptions are verified against the actual game.
• Every page is augmented with first-hand testing observations. "The boss fight in level 4 took us 6 attempts" is the kind of detail an AI cannot invent — and it is the kind of detail that makes a page genuinely useful.
• We never publish unedited AI output. If a draft reads as generic or templated, it is rewritten from scratch.

This is consistent with Google's "helpful content" guidance: content should be created for people, not for search engines, and should demonstrate first-hand expertise. Our editors have actually played the games they write about.

7. User-Generated Content

Where CalcBot allows user-generated content — star ratings, written reviews, game suggestions, chat messages — that content is moderated. Our moderation rules are simple:

• Spam is removed. Promotional links, repetitive content, and off-topic noise are deleted.
• Abuse is removed. Harassment, hate speech, threats, and personal attacks are deleted, and the account may be suspended.
• Off-topic content is removed. A review on a game page should be about the game. A chat message should be reasonably related to gaming or the CalcBot community.
• Personal information is removed. Phone numbers, home addresses, email addresses, and other PII posted publicly are redacted.

If you see user-generated content on CalcBot that violates these rules, please use the in-page "Report" button (where available) or email contact@calcbot.net with the URL and a description of the issue.

8. Corrections

We make mistakes. When we do, we fix them. If you spot a factual error on any CalcBot page — a wrong control, an outdated compatibility note, a broken troubleshooting step, a misattributed source — please email contact@calcbot.net with:

• The URL of the page.
• A one-sentence description of the error.
• The correct information (with a source if you have one).

We aim to correct factual errors within 72 hours of confirmation. Significant corrections (e.g., a game was incorrectly marked as Chromebook-compatible) are also reflected in the page's "Last tested" date.

9. Contact

Questions, corrections, or feedback about this Editorial Policy are welcome:

For related policies, see our Game Testing Policy, Game Licensing & Embed Policy, and DMCA / Copyright Policy.