Outprobe Algorithm & Discovery Policy
Effective Date: April 4, 2026 Last Updated: March 20, 2026 Version: 1.0
Our Philosophy
Outprobe does not use behavior-tracking algorithms to decide what you see. Instead, you control your own discovery experience through explicit preferences. We match your choices to community settings. That's it.
Traditional platforms: "We decide what you see based on everything we know about you." Outprobe: "Here's what matches the region and language you selected."
1. How Discovery Works
1.1 User Preferences (My Centre)
Every user explicitly configures their discovery preferences:
| Setting | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Region(s) | Which regions' communities appear in your Explore and Search | Based on signup location, user can change anytime |
| Language(s) | Which languages' communities appear in your Explore and Search | Based on device language, user can change anytime |
| Interest categories | Optional topic filters to refine Explore results | None (show all categories) |
| Feed order | How posts are sorted within communities | Chronological (newest first) |
Users can change any of these settings at any time from My Centre. Changes take effect immediately.
1.2 Community Targeting (Creator Settings)
Community creators explicitly configure where their community appears:
| Setting | Description | Options |
|---|---|---|
| Target regions | Which regions this community appears in for Explore and Search | Specific regions (e.g., "India", "South Asia") or "Global" |
| Language | Community's primary language | Any language |
| Category | Community topic for discovery matching | From predefined category list (Photography, Music, Tech, etc.) |
1.3 The Match
Discovery is a simple match between user preferences and community settings:
User preferences:
Regions: India, Global
Languages: English, Hindi
Interests: Photography, Music
Community A:
Target region: India
Language: English
Category: Photography
→ MATCH — appears in user's Explore
Community B:
Target region: Germany
Language: German
Category: Photography
→ NO MATCH — region and language don't match
Community C:
Target region: Global
Language: Hindi
Category: Cooking
→ PARTIAL MATCH — region and language match, but not in user's interests
→ Still appears but ranked lower than interest matches
No browsing history. No behavior tracking. No engagement scoring. Just preference matching.
2. Ranking Within Results
When multiple communities match a user's preferences, we need an order. Here's how we rank:
2.1 Explore Page Ranking
| Signal | Weight | Why | Privacy-Safe? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Region + language match | Highest | Core relevance — user explicitly chose these | Yes — user's own settings |
| Interest category match | High | User opted into these topics | Yes — user's own settings |
| Community tier (Explorer Stones) | Medium | Quality signal — members actively support this community | Yes — public community info |
| Member count | Medium | Social proof — more members indicates value | Yes — public community info |
| Endorse activity (recent) | Low-Medium | Community is actively engaged | Yes — aggregate public signal |
| Recency (newer communities) | Low | Prevents stale results, gives new communities a chance | Yes — creation date is public |
| Promoted communities (Business tier, future) | Separate | Clearly labeled as "Promoted" | Yes — transparent |
2.2 What We NEVER Use for Ranking
| Signal | Why We Don't Use It |
|---|---|
| User's browsing history | Privacy violation |
| Time spent on posts | Behavior tracking |
| Scroll depth or patterns | Behavior tracking |
| Click-through patterns | Behavior tracking |
| Posts liked or reacted to | Would create engagement profiles |
| Social graph (who you follow/interact with) | Would enable social profiling |
| Device information | Irrelevant to discovery |
| Time of day / usage patterns | Behavior tracking |
| Search history | Privacy violation |
| Content of DMs or messages | Absolute privacy violation |
| Cross-community behavior | Would create behavioral profiles |
3. Community Feed (Posts Within a Community)
3.1 Default: Chronological
Posts within a community feed are displayed in reverse chronological order (newest first) by default. This is the most transparent ordering — no hidden manipulation.
3.2 Post Ordering
| Post Type | Position | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| Pinned posts | Always at top | Until unpinned by owner/admin |
| Endorsed posts (boosted) | Shown higher in feed | 24-48 hour boost, then returns to chronological position |
| Regular posts | Chronological (newest first) | Permanent |
| Promoted posts (ads) | Inserted between regular posts | 1 per 10 posts maximum |
3.3 Feed Order Options
Users can choose their preferred feed order per community:
| Option | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Latest (default) | Newest posts first, chronological |
| Endorsed | Posts with most endorsements shown first, then chronological |
4. Endorse System
The endorse feature is a community-driven quality signal. It replaces algorithmic curation with human curation.
4.1 How It Works
| Detail | Description |
|---|---|
| What | A button on every post that members can tap to endorse content they find valuable |
| Who can endorse | Any member of the community |
| Limit | One endorse per post per user. Cannot endorse your own posts. |
| Daily limit | Each user can endorse up to 5 posts per day per community |
| Effect | Endorsed posts get temporarily boosted in the community feed |
| Boost duration | 24-48 hours, then post returns to its chronological position |
| Visibility | Endorse count is visible on the post |
4.2 Why Endorse, Not "Like"
Outprobe has both reactions (like, love, etc.) and endorsements:
| Feature | Reactions | Endorse |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Express emotion | Signal quality/value |
| Affects ranking | No | Yes (temporary boost) |
| Limit | Unlimited | 5 per day per community |
| Visibility | Reaction count + type | Endorse count |
| Who benefits | Post author (social validation) | Entire community (better content surfaces) |
4.3 Abuse Prevention
| Measure | How |
|---|---|
| Daily limit | 5 endorses per user per community per day |
| Cannot self-endorse | You cannot endorse your own posts |
| Temporary boost | Boost expires after 24-48 hours — no permanent manipulation |
| No cascading | Endorsing a post does not affect visibility of other posts by the same author |
| Rate limiting | Rapid endorsing (bot-like behavior) is rate-limited |
5. Search
5.1 How Search Works
Search on Outprobe is powered by Meilisearch and returns results based on text relevance.
| Search Type | What's Searched | Ranking |
|---|---|---|
| Communities | Name, description, category, tags | Text relevance + region/language match + member count |
| Users | Display name, username | Text relevance |
| Posts | Post text content (within communities you are a member of) | Text relevance + recency |
5.2 Search and Ads
Promoted communities (Business tier, future) may appear in search results, clearly labeled as "Promoted" and placed in a separate section above organic results.
5.3 What Search Does NOT Do
- Does not personalize results based on your behavior
- Does not track your search history for recommendation purposes
- Does not use your search queries for ad targeting
- Does not share search queries with third parties
6. Notifications
Notifications are deterministic, not algorithmic. You receive a notification when:
| Event | Notification |
|---|---|
| Someone replies to your post | Yes |
| Someone mentions you | Yes |
| Someone reacts to your post | Yes (configurable) |
| New post in a community you follow | Optional (user chooses per community) |
| New event in your community | Yes |
| New initiative in your community | Yes |
| Someone sends you a DM | Yes |
| Someone messages in your probe | Yes |
| Circle request | Yes |
| Community application status | Yes |
We NEVER send:
- "You haven't visited in a while" notifications (re-engagement manipulation)
- "X is posting — come see!" notifications (FOMO manipulation)
- "Trending near you" notifications (behavior-based)
- Notifications timed to maximize engagement (dark pattern)
Users control all notification settings per community and per type.
7. What We Don't Have (By Design)
| Feature Other Platforms Have | Why Outprobe Doesn't |
|---|---|
| "For You" algorithmic feed | We don't track behavior to build a profile of what you "want" |
| Infinite scroll optimization | We don't optimize for time-on-platform |
| Engagement-based ranking | We don't reward content that generates outrage or addiction |
| Shadow banning | If content violates rules, it's removed openly with explanation |
| Recommendation engine | Recommendations are preference-matched, not behavior-predicted |
| Social graph suggestions | "People you may know" requires social graph analysis — we don't do this |
| Read receipts (forced) | Users control their own privacy settings |
| Typing indicators (forced) | Users control their own privacy settings |
| Active status (forced) | Users control their own presence visibility |
8. Transparency
8.1 Why You See What You See
Every recommendation in Explore includes a simple explanation:
"Shown because: Photography community in India (English)"
↑ category match ↑ region match ↑ language match
No black box. Users always know why something appears in their feed.
8.2 No A/B Testing on Users
Outprobe does not conduct A/B tests that show different content to different users to optimize engagement. All users with the same preferences see the same results.
8.3 No Engagement Metrics Driving Content
We do not:
- Boost posts because they're generating lots of reactions (virality optimization)
- Surface controversial content because it drives engagement
- Suppress low-engagement content to "improve feed quality"
- Use dwell time, scroll speed, or tap patterns to adjust feeds
9. Future Changes
If we ever change how discovery or ranking works:
- We will update this document with at least 30 days notice
- We will notify users via in-app notification
- We will explain what changed and why
- The core principle remains: user controls their experience, not an algorithm
Summary: The Outprobe Difference
| Other Platforms | Outprobe |
|---|---|
| Algorithm decides your feed | You decide your feed |
| Tracks behavior to predict preferences | You explicitly set preferences |
| Optimizes for engagement/time-on-platform | Optimizes for user control and relevance |
| Black box ranking | Transparent: "Shown because region + language + category match" |
| Re-engagement notifications | Only event-driven notifications you opted into |
| A/B tests content on users | Same experience for same preferences |
| Shadow banning | Open moderation with explanations |
Your feed. Your rules. No hidden manipulation.
Contact
Questions about how discovery works: support@outprobe.com
Questions about this policy? legal@outprobe.com