1. We will not link to:
   1. ... spam sites.
   2. ... non-spam sites that have deceptive, or overbearing, advertising. For example, we will not link to splogs - spam blogs that have nothing but ads above the fold, forcing you to scroll down to get to the content, which might be scraped from another site. This includes sites that are largely advertorial.
   3. ... any sites that give the appearance of participating in phishing or any other type of malicious activity ("phishing" being the fraudulent acquisition of sensitive personal information by masquerading as a trustworthy entity).
   4. ... sites that simply regurgitate information from other sites with or without giving credit where credit is due. For example, if you have a blog that you use to simply aggregate your favorite posts about gadgets from other, more notable gadget blogs (such as Engadget or Gizmodo)—without adding substantial value and information via your blog—then we will always link directly to the source of the information rather than to your blog.
   5. ... sites which scrape or re-purpose other people's content without permission. Note: We are not able to police every site we link to, so we will make mistakes. If we're linking to a site which you feel is misappropriating your content please let us know by clicking the "Report" link on the search result page in question.
   6. ... sites of unknown origin (i.e. we cannot establish who operates the site).
   7. ... sites which have adult content or hate speech.
2. We will link to:
   1. ... sites that are considered authorities in their field (i.e. Edmunds for autos, Engadget for consumer electronics, and the New York Times for news).
   2. ... sites which create original, high-quality content on a consistent basis.
   3. ... sites that have been operating for over one year. Sites under a year will be considered, but most will be placed in a "member-submitted" section at the bottom of the page until they hit the one-year mark.
   4. ... sites that have clean layout, design, and a modest amount of advertising.

This scores are not intended as punishment, and getting a lot score does not mean that you will be automatically removed as page manager. It is our reporting mechanism for letting page managers know where their page currently stands, in the opinion of their vertical managers and Mahalo staff, and where we feel that page needs the most improvement. Questions about why a certain score has been received can be referred to the person who administered the score (typically a vertical manager), or by writing to contact@mahalo.com.

Upon receiving a low score (below 5) or a score that comes with direct and immediate recommendations for future action, a page manager should typically respond and make the recommended changes within 48-72 hours.

The scores are on a scale from 0-10, with 10 representing the perfect Mahalo page and 0 representing a blank Mahalo page.

Here's some guidelines on how to interpret your scores:

10: Perfect page. These will be very rare.

9 - 9.5: Excellent page. This is what you'd expect a Vertical Manager or staff member to produce.

8 - 9: Very good page.

6 - 7.5: Promising page with room for improvement

5 - 6: Potentially good page with some significant work needed.

3 - 4.5: A problem page. Urgent attention needed from Page Manager.

0 - 2.5: A poor page. We would consider replacing this Page Manager were effort not taken quickly to correct problems.

Here are the scoring standards:

Spelling error (-.25 to -.5) per error, depending on severity

Very minor spelling errors or typos will not impact your overall score. This is only for significant spelling errors that will impact the page's readability.

Grammatical error (-.5)

Again, very minor grammatical mistakes - such as misused commas, apostrophes or semi-colons - will not impact your final score. This is only for grammatical "stop errors" that render the page difficult to read for an English speaker.

Factual error (-2)

Mahalo pages should have NO inaccurate or incorrect information. All dates, data, statistics and other specific information should be backed up by citations.

Bias/NPOV (-1)

Mahalo pages should not take a perspective on an issue or a side in a discussion. All information presented on a Mahalo page should be fact-based, rooted in supportable research from external sources rather than anecdotal information. This includes political pages or pages about controversies, but also general interest pages. Remember that even positive statements of opinion (such as "schnauzers are great dogs for kids!" or "cinnamon buns are the best way to wake up in the morning") count as biased and should not be included. (NOTE: How To pages may occasionally include a bit more "anecdotal evidence" and "personal opinion" than standard Mahalo pages).

Vague writing/filler (-1)

Often, page managers may be tempted to "pad" their writing in order to create the appearance of more content on their pages. This is strongly discouraged. Examples of padded writing or filler could including repeating the same point or phrase multiple times, talking around an issue rather than getting right to the point or making obvious statements that any person with common sense would already know.

As well, being vague or misleading about a topic should be avoided. Always be as specific as possible, and when writing descriptions of objects, places, events, processes, etc., try to work in as many details (who, what, where, when, why, how) as possible. Remember that the ultimate goal of Mahalo pages is to be truly helpful to readers.

Not updated to reflect new info (-1 to -2)

Obviously, no page can be rigorously updated every minute while breaking news is happening. But if more than 12-24 hours has passed after a significant event that changes important aspects of a topic, and the page is not updated, that page will lose 1 point. The page will also lose points if it has not been updated in a long time or if it includes outdated information.

Word Count

Topic Pages

Under 100 words of original content (-2)
Under 200 words of original content (-1)
Under 300 words of original content (-.5)

300 or more original words on each Mahalo page should be considered the new "standard" for topic pages. This includes all original writing on the page, such as the top section, Fast Facts and written sub-sections. These 300 words INCLUDE Fast Facts, video/image descriptions and all other original text that appears on a Mahalo page and is composed by a user. List sections that just list information such as movies, books, nominees of awards etc. do not count towards the word count requirement.

How To Pages

Under 100 words of original content in a step or intro (-1 for each section)
Under 200 words of original content (-0.5 for each section)

Not enough internal links (-.5 to -1)

A full point will be lost if NO links to other Mahalo pages appear in any of the original written sections of the page. If important words that could link to a worthwhile Mahalo page are not double-bracketed, the page will lose half of a point.

No categories (-1)

Eventually, categories will be integrated into Mahalo Tasks. As of now, they should be added to pages after the Task is accepted and the finished page appears on Mahalo.com.

No related Mahalo pages (-1)

A writer should include at least 3-5 "related pages on Mahalo" to every topic page. Failure to include at least 3 related pages will result in the loss of a point.

No image section (-1)

Every page on Mahalo should include an image search, and should have an appropriate image selected in the first available spot.

General formatting error (-.5)

This can include any basic formatting problem on the page. Common examples include sub-sections in the written content that do not have "headlines" or titles, Featured Videos that do not have descriptions or sections that are misplaced on the page. Points will also be taken off if the page has no featured video.

No citations (-1)

If a page contains specific, factual information that is not cited, that page will lose 1 point. Not ALL factual information needs to be cited. A good rule of thumb is whether or not that fact is "common knowledge." That Barack Obama is President of the United States who was elected in 2008 is a commonly-known fact that would not need to be cited. That he was born on August 4, 1961, in Honolulu, Hawaii, is much more specific, less commonly-known info and should be cited.

No disclaimer (on medical, legal, financial pages) (-.5)

These disclaimers appear automatically on all new pages in these three categories. They should remain intact on the page and you will be marked down for not having/including them.

No Fast Facts/Tips (-1)

All topic pages require Fast Facts; all How To pages should include Tips sections. Fast Fact sections should include no fewer than 6-8 facts and Tips sections should include at least 3 tips.