PUBLIC METHOD + LIVE DIAGNOSTICSNO SECRET BOOSTS.
NO SECRET BOOSTS.
NO PAID #1.
LaunchThrone publishes the rules, the live aggregate health of the board and the limits of what the system can prove.
MATCHMAKING
Products with fewer valid decisions plus active reservations are prioritized. Category relevance, pair caps, referral exclusions and orientation balance apply server-side.
PROVISIONAL
A provisional launch is visible but cannot hold an official rank until it reaches the matchup and unique-judge thresholds.
RANKING
Valid left/right decisions update both products simultaneously with Glicko-2. Conservative score equals rating minus two times rating deviation.
UNCERTAINTY
A high rating with little evidence is intentionally discounted. More independent decisions reduce uncertainty.
REFERRALS
Founder-shared visits create a temporary exclusion for that product. Community Support remains a separate public count.
SPOTLIGHT
Spotlight rotates evenly and does not depend on rank, purchases, win rate, founder status or Community Support.
QUARANTINE
Suspicious decisions can be withheld from rating while staff review the aggregate evidence. Invalidations require a deterministic rebuild.
LIMITS
No system can perfectly detect every offline relationship. LaunchThrone reports what the method measures and does not call #1 objectively best.