Editorial policy

Independence

Rim & Rebound is published by Iron Mako Media and funded by affiliate commissions, mostly through Amazon Associates. No maker pays for placement, supplies units, or reviews a page before it runs. Commission rates are not an input to any score, and makers who sell direct and pay us nothing (Goalsetter, Pro Dunk, Mega Slam) are compared on the same rubric and linked plainly.

How products are chosen

Real, currently sold models from the makers that dominate the driveway market (Escalade's Goalrilla, Silverback and Goaliath; Lifetime; Spalding; the direct-only heavy-steel makers) plus the training-aid and gear makers whose pages we could read (Dr. Dish, SKLZ, Mikasa, Little Tikes, Crayola, Murray Sporting Goods, Stencil Ease, Johnson Level, QUIKRETE). A product enters the registry only when its specs can be read from a maker's page or manual (or a named dealer's spec sheet, labeled) and its warranty term from the maker. Products whose pages block fetches get the fewest claims, not invented ones.

Sourcing

• Specs are quoted from the maker's product page and linked on every card with the date read.
• Install figures (hole, bags, cure, crew) are quoted from the maker's manual or installation guide, linked, and carry a “manual figures as of” date. The paper manual in the box overrides us.
• Warranty terms are the maker's wording with exclusions noted; where a page and a manual disagree, both are quoted.
• Prices printed are makers' list prices with the date; Amazon prices are never printed. Buttons read “Check price on Amazon” until a live, dated feed exists.
• Standards (rim height and ball size by age) are quoted from the NBA and USA Basketball youth standards document; utility marking from 811; concrete yields from QUIKRETE's data sheet.
• Owner-reported problems are described as patterns and labeled reported, never quoted from a review platform and never presented as our finding.

What we don't claim

We haven't installed, assembled or played on the hoops on this site and we don't say we have. We don't list credentials, awards or testimonials. We don't print Amazon prices, star ratings or review counts. We don't mark our scores up as product ratings in structured data. We don't give engineering opinions on frost depth, load or a rusted pole's safety; where a question is outside the manuals we say so.

Imagery

Every photo on the site is licensed stock, chosen for the category and labeled “stock photo” on product cards. No image is presented as a specific model we reviewed, our own driveway, or our own installation. Credits are kept in the site's records.

Writing and tools

Pages are drafted with software assistance and edited by the author against the sources they cite. Every figure links to where it came from so a reader can check it without trusting us.

Corrections and updates

Errors are fixed in place, the page's updated date moves, and material corrections get a dated line in the page's corrections list. Manuals and warranty terms are re-checked when a reader reports a change and on a periodic pass; product pages are re-verified for availability monthly. Report anything at mike@blackironathletics.com or through the contact form.

Style

Plain US English, the driveway before the product, verdicts as sentences rather than adjectives, and no hype: no “ultimate,” no “game-changer,” no fake urgency, no “tested and ranked.”