Propose a match

The best matches on this site do not come from us. They come from people who argued at dinner the night before and wanted to know who was right. There are two ways to propose yours — and both go through the same review.

The free route, for regulars

Proposing a match for free requires an account and a little standing: the right unlocks once you have kept a seven-day streak of voting, or cast around twenty voices. This is not a commercial barrier, it is the only filter that works: someone who has been voting for a week knows the site, and their proposals are in another league entirely from those of an account created three minutes ago.

Once unlocked, your proposal enters the review queue. No delay is guaranteed and not all are taken up. If yours is published, the match page carries your handle and you receive bonus voices: on publication, and again if your match finds its audience and passes a thousand voices. Your interest is aligned with the site's — a good match pays better than a careless one.

The paid priority route

If you would rather not wait, the "open your own match" option buys two things, and only two: review within 48 hours, and temporary promotion on the home page if the match is published. It exists for a birthday, a party, a community that wants something settled now.

What it does not buy: the right to bypass the charter. A paid match targeting a private individual, insulting someone or repeating an existing debate is refused exactly like any other — and refunded. Nor does it buy voices or any advantage in the score: your match starts at zero like every other.

What gets a proposal accepted

A match that sets things against each other rather than people. A title that needs no instructions. Two sides you could genuinely defend — if there is a right answer, it is not a debate. And a subject that does not already exist on the site: a duplicate would cut the count in half and neither page would mean anything. The full criteria, including what is refused outright, are on the match charter page.

Proposing a contender rather than a match

Is a breed missing from a ranking, a city from a rivalry, a dish from a top? That is often the most useful contribution possible, and the quickest to handle: report it from the contact page, naming the match concerned. Adding a contender to a live ranking beats opening a new one alongside it.

The form

Proposal submission opens together with accounts. In the meantime, if you have an idea that seems obvious to you, send it from the contact page: the best ones will go live when the queue opens.