Rules

shoutbid is a public leaderboard. Posting to it is free, and position on it is decided by the people reading it — no ad network, no API keys, no revenue share, no algorithm. The twenty billboards beside the board are the one paid thing here, and they buy a billboard, not a rank. The votes are the ranking.

How ranking works

  • Submitting is free. A website or an X @handle, one listing each, and it is on the board immediately with a score of 0.
  • Anyone can vote. One vote per listing per visitor, up or down, and pressing the same arrow again takes your vote back.
  • A listing's score is its upvotes minus its downvotes, and the board is sorted by score, highest first. Tied listings stay in the order they were submitted, and the older one keeps the higher rank.
  • Nothing you pay for changes a leaderboard rank. Buying a billboard is a separate market and has no effect on the board.
  • App Store, Play Store, GitHub, and similar platform links are keyed by their path, so different apps don't share a listing. Tracking query strings are ignored.

Codes for the first ten

  • A submission can carry an optional code — a discount, a trial, an invite. It is shown to nobody until they claim it.
  • The first 10 visitors who ask each get it, one apiece. After that the card says the codes are gone. Asking twice returns the same code and does not use a second slot.
  • shoutbid does not check, redeem, or honour codes — it hands out the string you gave it. Whatever the code is worth is between you and the person who claims it.

What you can list

  • A product website, an app, or an X @handle.
  • Chat and invite links are not allowed: Telegram, WhatsApp, Discord, Messenger, Signal, and similar. The board is for products and profiles, not group chats.
  • Links to sexual content are not allowed. If it is porn, NSFW, or an adult platform, it does not belong on the board.
  • Query parameters are stripped from listing links. Affiliate, referral, and tracking URLs will not work.
  • Link shortener URLs are not allowed. If you submit one, it is replaced by the URL it redirects to.

How the billboards work

  • There are 20 billboards beside the board, ten a side. They are a separate market from the leaderboard: a product can be voted up the board and hold a billboard at the same time, and the two are independent.
  • Billboards open at $99.99 and climb $1 at a time from there. The twenty highest billboard bids hold the twenty slots, in order, so bid nineteenth-highest and you sit in slot 19. Taking the top slot costs $5 more than its current bid.
  • You hold a billboard until someone outbids you. There is no rental period, no impression count, and no expiry. If nobody beats your bid, you stay. When someone does, you move down a slot, or off the rail if you fall past twentieth.
  • To raise a billboard, submit the same website or @handle again at a higher amount; you only pay the difference, and nobody else can take your slot by paying that difference.

What a billboard shows

  • There are no uploads and no ad creative. The name, description, and logo are read from the page you submitted: its title, meta description, and apple-touch-icon or favicon. If a site has no usable icon, the billboard falls back to its initials.
  • To change how your billboard reads, change the metadata on your own page. It is picked up the next time you bid or raise.
  • Billboard links are marked rel="sponsored", because that is what they are. Clicks are counted and shown, so you can see exactly what the slot is worth.
  • Everything under "What you can list" applies to billboards too: no chat or invite links, no sexual content, no shorteners, and query strings are stripped.

Either way

  • Your listing is public. Clicks go to the URL or profile you submitted, without query parameters.
  • On the leaderboard, votes are what move you. On the billboards, a completed payment is what claims the slot.