Editorial policy

Who

Guides, idea overviews, calculator copy, and story summaries are prepared by the Sidequity editorial team and published under the Sidequity name. We are an independent site, not affiliated with gig platforms, marketplaces, or tax software vendors unless clearly stated on a specific page.

Financial and tax topics on Sidequity are planning education, not professional advice. Readers should verify tax and legal questions with qualified professionals.

How

Calculators

Calculators are built in-house. They transform your inputs through documented formulas. They do not pull live pay data from apps or guarantee outcomes. Priority calculators include extra sections on when to use the tool, forgotten expenses, and limitations.

Guides

Guides address one decision or pressure point (rent gap, net hourly, choosing a hustle, tax reserve). They include worked examples labeled clearly and, for newer pages, cited sources. We deepen high-traffic guides over time and avoid publishing large batches of interchangeable pages.

Recent reads

The homepage sidebar highlights reporting on work, pay, gigs, and household money pressure. Each item has a Sidequity summary page (roughly 800 to 1,000 words of commentary and context) plus a prominent link to the original publisher. We do not republish full articles or use publisher photos on story pages. Feed thumbnails are Sidequity illustrations.

Idea pages

Idea pages describe who a path fits and link to calculators. High-traffic ideas receive custom enrichment sections. Template pages are expanded gradually so each URL earns its place.

Why

Sidequity exists to help people run honest side-income math: net hourly, costs, tax reserve, and fit with the rest of life. We publish content for readers who would find it useful if they arrived directly, not primarily to manipulate search rankings. We avoid get-rich framing, income guarantees, and mass-produced pages that add little beyond a keyword.

Credit and linking (stories)

Every story page names the source and links out. Sidequity does not claim ownership of headlines or reporting. If a publisher requests changes or removal, contact us and we will respond promptly.

Homepage limit and archive

The sidebar shows up to 5 newest items. When a sixth story is added, the oldest sidebar item moves to the story archive automatically. Nothing is deleted unless you remove it from the data file.

Updates and dates

We change lastUpdated on a page only when that page's content changes materially. We do not refresh dates to fake freshness. Site-wide dates on the homepage reflect general maintenance, not every individual URL.

Adding a story (maintainers)

Add metadata to data/stories.json and write the full summary in lib/story-articles.ts. Include a Sidequity angle, source link, and calculator links where relevant. No publisher photos in the article body.

Publishing standards (maintainers)

New and refreshed pages must pass the checks in lib/guides/standards.ts and use createGuide() from lib/guides/factory.ts. Cursor rules live in .cursor/rules/editorial-content.mdc; see also AGENTS.md.

• Research: at least two primary sources (IRS, platform Help, named surveys) with URLs. No invented commission rates or survey medians.
• Structure: topic-specific headings only — no mass-produced "worth it / not worth it" pairs or branded takeaway sections.
• Length: guides target 900–1,100 words with one worked example using the reader's inputs, not generic filler.
• FAQ: three or more topic questions per guide; site-wide legal FAQ is rendered once on the template.
• Velocity: prefer deepening high-traffic URLs over publishing large batches of thin pages. We are gradually refreshing older batch guides.

What we avoid

• Paywalled content presented as if it were on Sidequity
• Affiliate or sponsored articles without disclosure
• Get-rich or MLM framing
• Copying publisher articles without substantial commentary
• Mass-publishing thin pages for search volume alone

More context: About Sidequity · Disclaimer