A Statement of Clarification

I have been running this blog for almost fourteen years.

In that time, I have written hundreds of articles and reviews, opinion pieces and announcements. Every single one of those, without any exception, has been instigated by my own free will. That is to say, each and every word I have written on this site, other than a very occasional cut and paste of a press release, has been mine, made of my own volition.

For the record, I want to make everyone that reads this website absolutely clear and certain of one very important thing.

I am fully, completely and unequivocally independent.

I am free of any and all external influences. I do not take payments from any organisation or individual in respect of anything that I write or post on this website. I am not sponsored, I am not affiliated, I am not employed and I am not under the influence or direction of anyone or anything.

When I review products or services, I do so with full and total impartiality. The companies or individuals who provide me with these products or services to review do not exert any influence or instruction on what I write here, or say in any video. The words that I write or speak are mine, and mine alone, free of any influence by anyone else.

I pride myself on this because I am deeply passionate about, and protective of, my integrity and reputation. I am fiercely proud of my independence as I believe it is pivotal to my work as a trustworthy journalist and writer.

Every product I review or comment on has been loaned to me or, in the case of software, provided to me on a “Not For Resale” basis. For example, hardware manufacturers almost always send loan items. These items do the rounds amongst other bloggers, reviewers and websites, ending up back at the manufacturer. And I have never published a review or video where a manufacturer, who has provided products for review, has asked me to review something favourably, or who has dictated to me what i should or shouldn’t say. There was one, solitary instance where this happened. The developer, who shall remain nameless, provided me with a bunch of their sample libraries, along with an email telling me what I should focus on, how I should describe certain things, and what I probably shouldn’t say. As soon as I read that email, I returned everything to them, software, licences and all, with a short but simple note that this wasn’t the way I operated and I no longer wanted them to contact me. That is how much I value my integrity.

Earlier today, it was brought to my attention that a seemingly well respected developer of popular software instruments had made a post on Facebook, linking to one of my videos and stating that it was sponsored by a manufacturer, and questioned its legality. As soon as I was made aware of this, I took my time to explain that this was not only wholly incorrect, but also offensive and potentially libellous. I requested they remove the post and publish a redaction of this inaccurate statement, which prompted a long and protracted discussion that saw the original poster double down and duck and dive the point in question. Even now, the post remains with a number of bizarre edits, all of which are retained in Facebook’s edit history.

This has prompted me to post this statement as I want to be absolutely crystal clear on this point.

None of my content is influenced in any way, shape or form by any external organisation or individual. Should I ever achieve an ambition of mine to get some sponsorship for this site, it will be made abundantly clear that sponsorship is received, for what and how. The reader or viewer will be left in no doubt whatsoever that the site and specific content is sponsored by a 3rd party. And any sponsorship deals will be made with the caveat that there will be no bias to their products, brands or services outside of the placement of their advertisement.

I speak to many online content providers who do similar things to what I do here, and they have all, at some point, been accused of being a corporate shill. Many get accused of being a sponsored “influencer” on social media. I fully understand these trends, and know how they work, but I have never done this and have no intention of doing so. This website is 100% funded by me, out of my own pocket. I’ve never received donations, nor offers of free services. I pay for my own hosting, domains and all other web-related services. I do this all in my own time, at my own expense and have always resisted using advertising of any kind, such is my enthusiasm for maintaining full and unquestionable impartiality.

My opinions are not for sale. I do not answer to anyone at all. Please rest assured that this has always been, and always will be, the case.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, and for supporting my independent work for the last 14 years.

Rob Puricelli.