01
Make one tiny page
A fixed $1 product: title, short message, approved colour, permanent number and one HTTPS destination.
Mechanism
Simple on the surface. Verifiable underneath.
The appeal is immediate: a dollar, a tiny page and one daily front page. The rules beneath it prevent wealth, timing and audience size from silently deciding the result.
02
Enter the next edition
Content is reviewed and frozen before the daily comparison window begins. Every owner gets one eligible page.
03
Readers compare pairs
The server shows two low-exposure candidates. A reader chooses A, B or neither; direct-vote links do not exist.
04
Publish a front page
After fraud review, the highest eligible 95% Wilson lower-bound score receives the main placement for 24 hours.
What the dollar does—and does not buy
It buys a real digital product: a numbered micro-page, native listing in one edition, moderation and an archive record. It does not buy votes, extra impressions, a probability of winning or any cash prize.
Why pairwise comparisons
A global “vote for me” button rewards whoever already has the largest following. Instead, the server assigns comparisons and prioritises candidates with fewer qualified impressions. Sharing attracts people to the whole edition, but cannot force a specific page into their ballot.
Why the score is conservative
A page with 9 positive choices from 10 comparisons should not automatically beat one with 80 from 100. The Wilson lower bound discounts uncertainty. A production winner also needs at least 30 qualified judgements, 30 distinct verified people and enough distinct opponents.
score = lower bound of a 95% Wilson confidence interval
tie-breaks = score → raw rate → head-to-head → sample size → earlier approval
tie-breaks = score → raw rate → head-to-head → sample size → earlier approval
If participation is too low
No winner is declared. The archive says “insufficient verified participation,” and production participants receive a credit for a later edition. The system never invents certainty.
Where chance appears
It does not decide the winner. A deterministic pseudorandom order may only rotate pair presentation and neutralise left/right bias. Scores and eligibility remain deterministic and auditable.