Ask HN: Should authors disclose if they are paid to write a blog post?

It seems like a credibility issue. Tied to this is reviewing a product that was not purchased off the shelf.

Computer magazines in the day used to (probably still do) evaluate competing equipment. The equipment was provided by the producer. The Producer would cherry pick the best.

This is why organizations like consumers reports are respected, they BUY everything they test, so you know it was not a custom build.

Definitely. Though at this point, the most aggressively "independent and unbiased" reviews are often the ones hiding the most creative affiliate structures.

I think it's very necessary.

Yes.

I believe YouTube requires the disclosure.

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