How the board works
The bid is the rank.
There is no hidden quality score, paid editorial placement, or follower count. The public order is calculated from the bid and the time it entered the board.
- Use whole USD amounts. A new bid must be between $5 and $999,999.
- Higher bids go first. A bid of $500 sits behind every active bid above $500 and ahead of lower bids.
- Earlier equal bids win. When two active listings have the same amount, the listing published first keeps the higher position.
- Overtaking costs $1 more. Use the listing’s action to submit at least the current bid plus one dollar.
- Rebidding the same site costs $5 more. Enter the same domain and bid at least five dollars above its current amount. Only the difference is charged.
- Payment settles the position. Someone else may bid before your payment completes, so a previewed rank is never a guarantee.
What belongs here
List something people can visit.
Ladder is open to websites, products, projects, portfolios, newsletters, communities, and other public destinations.
- Use a real public destination. The submitted URL must resolve to a website or public project people can understand.
- One destination, one listing. Entering the same URL again increases that listing’s bid instead of creating a duplicate; the new bid must be at least $5 higher.
- Keep the destination accurate. The name, description, and favicon are read from the public site where possible.
- One public board. There are no category gates or paid editorial lanes; every eligible destination competes on the same ranking.
- Public clicks are simple counts. The board may show total clicks for a listing, never private visitor details.
Content and destinations
Some things do not belong on a public board.
We screen submissions before publishing and may review a listing again after it is live.
Automated screening is a first pass, not a perfect judge. Contextual or borderline submissions may be held for review.
- Hate and racism. Slurs, dehumanizing language, attacks on protected groups, or content promoting hatred.
- Vulgarity and harassment. Abusive, threatening, sexually explicit, or deliberately shocking material.
- Adult and gambling destinations. Pornography, sexual services, casinos, sportsbooks, betting, poker rooms, lotteries, and real-money wagering are not eligible for promotion.
- Harmful or deceptive destinations. Malware, phishing, scams, impersonation, doxxing, illegal activity, or misleading claims.
- Low-signal or manipulative pages. Link farms, scraped pages, disposable redirects, affiliate-only pages, and attempts to bypass the one-listing rule.
Money and publishing
Pay once. Publish after confirmation.
Payments are processed by Stripe. You do not need a Ladder account, but Stripe still collects the billing details required for the transaction.
- One-time payment. Your payment covers the bid amount shown before confirmation; there is no subscription or revenue share.
- Billing stays private. Billing details and Stripe identifiers are operational data, not public listing content.
- Publishing follows payment. A listing becomes active only after the server verifies the Stripe payment.
- Refunds remove the listing. If a payment is refunded, disputed, or reversed, the associated listing is withdrawn from the board.
- You are responsible for the destination. Only submit a website or project you are authorized to represent.
Keeping the board honest
We can pause, edit, or remove.
Rules apply to the destination and the submission, not just the words in the form.
- We may pause a review. A flagged submission will not be sent to payment until it is eligible.
- We may remove a live listing. Policy violations, broken destinations, or material changes can take a listing off the board.
- We do not expose moderation details. The public board will not show matched phrases, detector scores, private notes, or billing information.
- Rules can evolve. The current version of this page applies to new submissions and may be used when reviewing existing listings.