Editorial Standards

Effective date: August 20, 2026. Last updated: August 20, 2026.

WhyManhattan publishes independent editorial guides that help readers make better decisions in Manhattan. This page explains how we research, write, review, update, and correct our work.

What we publish

We publish decision-focused guides: neighborhood fit, trip intent, practical city questions, food and drink choices, family and wellness needs, seasonal timing, and selected editorial spotlights on specific places. Each page is built around a reader question, not a keyword list or directory scrape.

A guide should still be useful if you removed every business name from it. We explain tradeoffs, limits, and who should choose an alternative.

Source order

We research before we publish. When facts matter, we use sources in this order:

• Official government, transit, museum, park, airport, health, or public-agency sources for rules, transport, facilities, accessibility, and safety.
• The venue or organization’s own current website, menu, booking system, or policy page for hours, prices, reservations, and access rules.
• Reputable, directly reported local journalism for context and independent corroboration.
• Reliable maps or booking platforms only as secondary confirmation.
• Community posts only as leads, never as the sole authority for a material claim.

If reliable sources disagree, we state the disagreement internally, write conservatively in public, and correct the page when better evidence appears.

Review classes and update cadence

Not every guide ages at the same speed. We classify articles into review classes and set review intervals accordingly:

• Class A (fast-changing or high-risk): transportation, medicine, pharmacy hours, accessibility, prices, reservations, tipping, and public facilities. Verify operational facts before publication and review at least every 90 days, or sooner when a source changes.
• Class B (venue and commercial details): restaurants, cafés, gyms, coworking, storage, and spotlights. Verify address, hours, pricing, and access from first-party sources. Review at least every 90–180 days.
• Class C (durable planning guidance): neighborhood fit, itinerary logic, walking pace, and audience comparisons. Confirm named anchors and transit assumptions still hold. Review at least every 180 days, or sooner after a major closure or route change.

Last-reviewed dates appear on published guides so readers can judge freshness. A delayed review does not excuse publishing stale operational claims as current fact.

Human review, bylines, and AI assistance

WhyManhattan may use AI tools for research support, drafting, and formatting. AI output is never published without human editorial review.

• The byline names the human editor or team responsible for the published page.
• We do not invent visits, tastings, interviews, tests, or quotes.
• We do not convert third-party information into first-person experience language such as “we tried,” “on our visit,” or “we found.”
• We follow the site’s publication-level disclosure policy for material AI assistance. We do not hide automation behind fake human credentials.

Selection and independence

Inclusion is an editorial decision. A place is not listed because it is famous, because it requested coverage, or because it ranks well in search. We include options that serve distinct reader needs and explain why each one is here, who it suits, and what the tradeoff is.

Businesses cannot buy an undisclosed recommendation. Any paid relationship, complimentary experience, affiliate link, or other arrangement that could influence a reader’s decision is disclosed clearly on the relevant page.

Corrections

Manhattan changes quickly. If you spot an error, closure, accessibility problem, outdated price, or important omission, email info@whymanhattan.com with the page URL and, when possible, a reliable source.

We verify material corrections before updating the live page. Minor typos may be fixed immediately; operational or safety-related changes take priority.

Health and safety

Health-related guides distinguish emergencies from non-emergencies. They do not diagnose, prescribe, or promise medical outcomes. In an emergency, call 911.

We do not state that something is safe, accessible, affordable, or worth it without defining the criteria and evidence behind the judgment.

What we will not publish

• Directory-style “best of” lists built mainly for search volume rather than reader decisions.
• Undisclosed sponsored recommendations or pay-to-play placements.
• Fake first-person reporting, invented quotes, or composite anecdotes presented as fact.
• Unverified prices, hours, medical claims, or accessibility statements presented as current without a source.
• Thin pages that repeat the title, pad word count, or exist only to target keyword variants.
• Content that pretends exhaustive coverage of Manhattan when a narrower, honest answer would serve the reader better.

Images and attribution

Hero and inline images include descriptive alt text, credit, and rights information. We do not use skyline stock photos as a default substitute for reporting. When an image is illustrative rather than documentary, we say so in the credit or caption.

Internal links and scope

Guides link to related pages when another article answers a natural next question—for example, subway basics before an airport transfer guide. Links are contextual, not footer dumps of every published page.

WhyManhattan covers Manhattan, New York City. We publish deliberately: fewer pages, stronger reporting, and a clear answer to why a reader should choose one plan over another.

Contact

Questions about these standards, correction requests, and editorial feedback can be sent to info@whymanhattan.com.