Editorial Policy
Last updated: June 1, 2026
This document governs who appears on the Thought Leaderboard, what we publish about them, and how we handle removals.
Who we include
The Thought Leaderboard catalogs LinkedIn users who have voluntarily entered public discourse through their posting behavior. People reach the standings via one of two paths:
Self-nomination. Any user can submit themselves through the public submission form with explicit OAuth-verified consent. The act of signing in with LinkedIn is the consent. No follower threshold applies; self-nomination is the universal opt-in path.
Editorial curation. The editor may also include high-profile public-figure posters at their discretion — users with substantial public followings who post on a regular cadence — consistent with standard editorial practice for public figures (Forbes lists, ESPN power rankings, restaurant criticism, and comparable publications). Editorial inclusion sits with the editor’s professional judgment, not user nomination.
We do not include:
- Private individuals with limited or non-public posting history
- Users who have requested removal
- Minors (anyone under 18)
The public submission form accepts self-nominations only. Community nominations of third parties are not accepted.
Editorial discipline
All scores and commentary must be either demonstrably true or clearly identifiable as opinion-as-satire.
Demonstrably true. Mechanical metrics like post velocity, word frequency, format patterns, repost rate. These are countable from public profile data.
Opinion-as-satire. Archetype labels, the Audacity Index composite score, and season summaries. These describe posting behavior, never the person. The format of the publication, the disclaimer in the footer, and the satirical framing of every page make the opinion nature unmistakable.
We do not publish:
- Material claims about character, integrity, or business practices that are not visible in public posts
- Factual claims we cannot demonstrate from public data
- Anything that reads as a personal attack rather than commentary on public posting style
- Verbatim reproductions of post content (paraphrase only; LinkedIn posts are copyrighted)
Cited posts
Each scorecard may include up to ten cited posts representing the leader’s recent output. Cited posts are drawn from the leader’s own LinkedIn profile only — never from posts by third parties that mention them. We link to the posts on LinkedIn; we never reproduce post text. The editor writes a brief, dry paraphrase of each cited post as the caption.
AI assistance
The editor may use a large language model (Anthropic’s Claude) to draft initial scores, a season summary, and post paraphrases from publicly visible posting content the editor pastes into the admin tool. Every score and every word of public commentary is then human-reviewed before publication. No score reaches the public scorecard without editorial sign-off.
Rescore requests
A verified profile owner — anyone who has signed in with LinkedIn and whose OAuth identity matches a leader on the board — may request a rescore from their account dashboard. The editor receives the request, reviews the profile’s current public posting, and updates the scorecard if warranted. Rescore requests are review requests, not appeal-and-overturn mechanisms. There is no obligation to change the score.
The standings are a living publication. Posting habits evolve and new leaders join the field continuously; the editor welcomes rescore requests from verified owners whose current posting has shifted meaningfully since their last review. Every score is a point-in-time review, not a permanent verdict.
Cadence and editions
The publication does not operate on a fixed rescoring schedule. Each leader is scored at a point in time; rescores are issued at the editor’s discretion or on request from a verified profile owner. The rank-movement arrows on each scorecard (↑ / ↓ / —) are relative to each leader’s baseline rank on the board, and reset when the editor publishes a new edition.
Removal
Any individual may request removal of their profile at any time, for any reason, without explanation. If the requester’s LinkedIn OAuth identity matches the profile (a verified owner), removal is processed instantly through the account dashboard. Other removal requests — for example, by a representative, or where OAuth identity cannot be matched — are reviewed and processed within 24 hours.
Verified profiles can only be removed by their verified owner. Once a leader has linked their LinkedIn account to their profile, the public removal form will not accept requests for that profile from anyone else. The owner can remove instantly by signing in. This is to prevent third parties from using the public form to take down accounts they don’t own.
Once removed, we do not republish that individual without subsequent explicit consent (a self-nomination submission counts).
Merchandise
Merchandise features Thought Leaderboard branding and editorial content only — for example, apparel with the Thought Leaderboard or Audacity Index wordmark, archetype-themed shirts and prints (e.g., “the framework pastor”), and items featuring archetype signature phrases.
We do not produce merchandise featuring individual leaders’ names, likenesses, scores, ranks, or quoted post text.
Legal posture
This is a commentary and satire publication operating under the same principles that govern editorial coverage of public figures. The site does not scrape LinkedIn and does not reproduce post text verbatim. Inclusion of public-figure posters without prior consent follows longstanding norms of fair commentary on those who have voluntarily entered public discourse.
Contact
For editorial questions, story ideas, or comments on this policy: