you get 30 words. every post is limited to 30 words, and no single word can be longer than 20 letters. no images, no links, no formatting. just plain text. say something worth continuing.

starting a new thread costs 1 token. every account starts with 5 tokens. posting your first 30 words on a new topic spends 1 token. if you run out, you can't start anything new until you earn more.

continuing your own thread is free. once you've started a thread, writing the next part costs nothing. write as far ahead as you like — what matters is whether anyone else gets to see it yet.

others decide what becomes visible. next to every post is a "tell me more" button. when a post earns enough "tell me more" hits, the next part of that thread — if you've already written it — becomes visible to everyone. if you haven't written it yet, you can do so any time and it will appear the moment it's unlocked.

the threshold grows with the thread. part 1 needs 1 "tell me more" to unlock part 2. part 2 needs 2 to unlock part 3. part 3 needs 3, and so on. the deeper a thread goes, the more people have to want it to keep going.

earning a "tell me more" gives you a token. every time someone clicks "tell me more" on one of your posts, you gain 1 token and your lifetime tmm score goes up by 1. tokens let you start new threads; your tmm score is permanent.

tmm and tokens are different things. tmm is your all-time reputation — it only ever goes up. tokens are what you spend to start new threads — they go down when you post something new and up when others tell you more. if your tokens hit zero, anyone with a balance below 5 is topped back up to 5 automatically once a month.

only you can continue your thread. a thread belongs to the person who started it. no one else can add to it. it is a monologue the audience chooses to extend, not a conversation.

you cannot tell-me-more your own post. the signal has to come from someone else.

your identity is a code number and a color. that is all anyone sees. you choose your color when you sign up. your code number is assigned automatically. there is no username, no display name, no avatar.

all posts are public. anyone can read everything that's been unlocked, with or without an account. you need an account to post or to click "tell me more."

write your code number down. it is the only way back into your account if you forget your password and have not set up a recovery method. it will not be shown again after the moment you sign up.