The Northern Lights

Why is there a delay between votes?

The rating buttons lock for a few seconds after each new entry loads, so ratings reflect an actual look at the image rather than reflexive clicking.

Why can't I just scroll through entries and vote on my favorites?

For the average rating to be a fair score, every entry needs to end up with roughly the same number of votes. Entries are shown least-voted-first, so by the end of voting nothing is left behind just because it appeared late.

How is voting kept fair? What about bots?

Voting is anonymous both ways — you never see whose entry you're rating, and creators only see their own running score and vote count, never who rated them or how anyone else is scoring. You also can't choose which entry to rate; they're shown one at a time, and once you've rated one you won't see it again. A dream needs at least 3 votes to qualify, so a single rating can't decide a placing.

Do all ballots count?

Not a ballot that gives almost every entry the same rating: 90% or more of at least 20 ratings being one score. A ballot like that says nothing about any one dream, but it still pulls down (or pushes up) every entry it happens to land on, and with top scores often just hundredths apart, that was enough to change who placed. Those ballots are left out of the results and don't earn the voting reward. Nobody is banned for it, and if your ratings start to look that way you'll see a note while voting, with plenty of entries left to rate differently.

Who decides the winners?

No one — the ranking is computed automatically the moment voting closes. Every vote is stored individually, each entry's final score is recalculated from those raw votes (the average of its 1–5 ratings, leaving out ballots that rate almost everything the same), and qualified entries are sorted by score, with ties going to the entry with more votes. There is no jury, no curation, and no way for anyone — including staff — to set, promote or reorder placements. The only human action in a challenge is moderation: an entry that breaks the rules can be removed, and placements themselves can't be edited.

When exactly does a challenge end? Can the deadline move?

Every deadline is shown on the challenge page in your local time, and voting closes at exactly that moment — votes cast after it aren't accepted. The full schedule is fixed the moment a challenge is created and can't be extended or moved. Counting starts right after the close and usually takes a few minutes; the results page shows the exact time the final count was locked.

Why can't I see the entries and their vote counts while voting is running?

To keep the vote blind. If running totals were public, voters could rally around front-runners or target rivals, and the result would measure campaigning instead of the dreams. So while voting runs, only the challenge-wide totals (entries and votes) are public — and the moment it closes, everything is: the full leaderboard with every qualified dream's average score and vote count.

What kind of dreams can I enter?

Only private image dreams that have never been published can be entered. The picker on the challenge page only shows dreams you can use.

Can I enter more than one dream per challenge?

No — one entry per challenge. You can swap which dream you've entered, or withdraw it, any time before voting opens; entries lock once voting starts.

Can I enter the same dream in more than one challenge?

Yes, as long as it hasn't placed on the podium or in the top 5% of a past challenge — those dreams are locked from being entered again (you'll see a trophy on the dream page instead).

Are NSFW dreams allowed?

No — NSFW dreams can't be entered. Eligible entries must also be private and must never have been published. They are shown anonymously while voting and opened in a lightbox in the results, never linked back to their private dream page.

Can I publish my dream after entering it?

Not while the challenge is active. Challenge entries must remain private through submissions and voting, so publishing is disabled until the challenge is completed. During submissions, you can withdraw the entry first if you want to publish it instead.

I saw the same entry twice — is that a bug?

Not a bug. If you didn't end up rating an entry — you closed the lightbox, refreshed, or it failed to load — it's still eligible and can come back up again, especially early in voting when several entries are tied for fewest votes. It stops being shown to you the moment you actually submit a rating for it; if it somehow gets rated twice, only your latest rating counts.