how ranking works

on top ranking protocol 0.1

There is one global pool of live threads. Hashtags are filters over that pool, not containers, so every thread has a global rank and a rank within its hashtag — both from the same energy value.

Every thread starts at energy 50.00. Its energy at any moment is:

upImpact   = 12 × log10(1 + upvotes) ÷ (1 + ageHours / 24)
downImpact = 10 × log10(1 + downvotes)
timeDecay  = 0.5 × ageHours

energy = clamp(50 + upImpact − downImpact − timeDecay, 0, 100)

Upvotes have diminishing returns and weaken as a thread ages; downvotes do not weaken. Time always pulls down. A thread disappears when its energy reaches zero (after a 30-minute grace period), or when the pool is over 10,000 live threads and it is among the weakest.

Comments work the same way but decay faster (2 per hour, upvote window 8h), and only compete with their siblings. A comment that runs out of energy but still has live replies stays visible as context until those replies are gone. Each thread holds at most 300 live comments.

There are no followers, no karma, no personalised feed and no advertising. Participation is anonymous. One vote per person per post.