What is TOPICAL?
TOPICAL is where ideas compete on a level playing field. Post a topic, make your case, and let votes and comments decide what rises - no personalized algorithm quietly deciding what you see, no engagement engine tuned to keep you scrolling longer than the next person.
Every topic and comment is ranked by the exact same public formula for every visitor. What's on top is on top because the community actually engaged with it - nothing hidden, nothing targeted.
Discuss real news alongside topics the community starts itself - technology, sports, entertainment, business, world events, or everyday questions - all in one shared space.
- ▪ Guest votes count in full. No account needed to meaningfully shape a topic's ranking.
- ▪ No personalized algorithm, ever. The same transparent ranking applies to everyone - nobody's feed is secretly engineered to keep them online longer.
- ▪ Your activity is your resume. Every vote, comment, and topic builds a public track record other users can actually see - real participation that carries real weight.
- ▪ A message board with limits, on purpose. Direct messages disappear after they're read, so there's no private feed to hide behind - the record that lasts, the one that matters, is what you contribute publicly.
- ▪ Make it yours. A fully customizable avatar and profile color theme, so your account looks like you.
- ▪ We don't need to know much about you. Voting, posting, and ranking don't require tracking you across the internet, so we don't collect personal data the site doesn't actually need.
- ▪ Images are screened automatically. TOPICAL does not allow NSFW or graphic, gory content.
- ▪ Report and block anytime. Signed-in users can report topics, comments, or users, and block anyone from messaging or friending them.
How TOPICAL Works
Get a quick snapshot of voting activity, ranking changes, and discussions that are gaining attention.
Trending shows current activity, Rankings shows the full board, New Topics shows recent community posts, Daily News groups today's headline topics, and Following (once you are logged in) shows topics from people you follow.
The briefing highlights ranked discussions with their votes, comments, and heat level.
Anyone can create a discussion with a title, details, and an optional image. Registered users can build a public profile.
Open a discussion to read background details, vote, comment, reply, search comments, and share images.
Vote on topics and comments, then add your perspective to the discussion.
Daily News
The Daily News tab pulls in fresh headlines from real news outlets across World, Business, Sports, Entertainment, Technology, and Gaming - updated daily. These stories start out as a quick way to catch up on what is happening.
A story becomes a fully promoted community discussion, complete with its own indexed page, once it earns real engagement - a vote or a comment from someone in the community. That is what turns a headline into a conversation.
Connecting With People
Follow vs. Friend
Following someone is instant and one-directional - no approval needed. It fills your Following tab with topics from the people you follow. Adding a friend is different: the other person has to accept your request before you are friends. Sending a friend request automatically follows them too. Incoming friend requests show up in your Messages widget, under Requests → Friends, where you can accept or decline them.
Direct Messages
Messages are ephemeral - each one disappears 5 minutes after the recipient opens it. Messages from people you have not friended land in the same Messages widget's Requests tab rather than your main inbox, so you can decide who gets there.
That's a deliberate limit, not a missing feature. TOPICAL isn't trying to be your private messaging app - it's a public discussion board. Keeping direct messages temporary means the lasting record of your presence here is what you actually said in the open: your votes, your comments, your topics. That's exactly what makes rankings and comment scores worth something.
Discussion Pages
Every topic has its own dedicated discussion page designed to make conversations easier to follow.
Each page includes background information, community comments, voting, images, comment search, and direct replies.
Votes, Ranking, and Heat
Topic and comment points
Upvotes and downvotes show how the community is responding. Net scores help rank topics and comments, while every vote contributes to activity.
Comment Points
Higher-valued replies are easier to find, and topic pages highlight the comments the community found most useful.
How Topics Move
Fresh, active discussions have opportunities to rise, while older conversations gradually make room for something new - the same activity-based formula applies to every topic, with no manual boosting.
To keep the board a manageable size, the lowest-ranked topics are periodically and permanently removed once the board passes its capacity - oldest and least-engaged first. Voting and commenting on a topic you care about keeps it active and away from that threshold.
Heat Meter
The heat meter is a visual guide to current activity, from Warm to On Fire.
Account Scores
Registered accounts build a public score from their topics and comments over time - think of it as a resume of real contributions, not a private analytics dashboard only you can see. Anyone can look at a profile's Friends, Followers, and Following counts, topic and comment stats, and awards, so real participation actually carries weight and credibility instead of disappearing into a feed.
Make the profile look like yours, too: pick a custom avatar (base, hair, clothing, and more) and choose your own colors for the profile card, headings, and text in the Customize tab. Private details like your email address stay visible only to you.
Creating Better Discussions
A useful discussion starts with a clear question or idea. Give people enough context to understand what you are asking, explain why it matters, and leave room for different points of view. The guides below provide practical help for choosing a subject, writing a strong opening, and keeping the conversation moving.
Community Standards
TOPICAL does not allow NSFW content or graphic, gory imagery. Every image uploaded to a topic, comment, or message is automatically screened before it becomes visible to anyone else.
Signed-in users can report topics, comments, or other users for review, and can block another user to stop them from sending direct messages or friend requests. Your blocked users list is private and visible only to you, in Account Settings.
Direct messages you report are preserved for review even after they would normally expire, so reports of abuse are not lost to the ephemeral messaging window.
Privacy and Terms
TOPICAL's core features - voting, posting, and ranking - work without building a profile on who you are or what else you do online. We collect what's needed to run the site (an email to verify your account, the content you choose to post) and nothing more, and we do not sell your personal information.
Review the current privacy policy and terms of use for TOPICAL.
Follow TOPICAL
Get the day's most-discussed story outside the site too.
Contact Support
Send a message to TOPICAL support. Replies go to the email address you provide.
All-Time Top 10 Voted Topics
These are the topics that have received the strongest long-term community support, separate from the live Daily Briefing and Trending views.