Climbing the leaderboard without gaming it

The short answer

A higher rank comes from a higher scan score, and a higher scan score comes mostly from a better photo. There is no other lever worth pulling. The leaderboard ranks posted AI scan scores, highest first, so the only thing to improve is the scan you post.

Nothing here guarantees a position. What follows is what is within your control, and what is not.

What the board actually ranks

The board is fed only by AI scans that someone chose to post. A rating from a human judge or an AI clip is not what is ranked, so spending on judges will not move you. Posting is free, takes one tap from any rating in your history, and works without an account. How the leaderboard works covers the mechanics.

Two details are worth checking in the Leaderboard window rather than assuming: how the board treats more than one post from you, and how quickly a new entry shows up. This page does not state either, because it should not guess.

Better photos are the honest lever

A score is a score for a photo, so the photo is where the movement is. Side light, a level camera, distance with a crop afterwards and a plain background are all things that change what the scan can read. The photo guide explains each one, and why your score changed between photos explains why the number moves.

Change one thing per attempt and compare the six-axis breakdowns. Post the best clean one.

Audit your best scan first

Before you reshoot anything, open your best scan and look at the breakdown. Find the lowest axis and ask which photographic habit drives it. If shape and proportions is low, shoot level and from further back. If skin texture is low, move to side light and turn the flash off.

This is cheaper than a scattergun of retakes, since you change one thing aimed at one axis. It also keeps you honest about what improved, because you can see the axis you targeted move.

Use the board as a reference

Every row opens its own six-axis breakdown, so the board doubles as a reference library. Find entries near the score you want, open a few, and compare their profiles with yours. You are not copying anyone, just learning what that number looks like when it is made of different parts.

It also guards against a common mistake, which is chasing a total when your real gap is on one axis.

Why a lucky score does not hold

If you scan many times and post the highest, you are selecting an unusually good draw. Statisticians call the pull back toward ordinary values on a later measurement regression to the mean, and, as Barnett, van der Pols and Dobson (2005, International Journal of Epidemiology) explain, it is more noticeable when measurement error is large.

The practical reading is modest. A top score from a clean photo is a good result. A top score from your fortieth scan of a mediocre one is a lucky one, and a fresh scan may not repeat it.

A routine that holds up

Scan your best current photo and read the breakdown. Pick the lowest axis and the one habit that drives it. Reshoot changing only that, scan again, and compare. Repeat once or twice, not forty times, and post the best clean result.

That routine is slow on purpose. Its output is a photo you understand, which is the only thing that gives you a score worth defending when someone opens your row.

What not to expect

Do not expect a particular rank, because it depends on what everyone else has posted, and nothing here can promise a position. Do not expect a judge rating to change your place, since the board ranks scans. And do not expect the board to tell you anything about you beyond one photo on one day.

What it does give you is a free, public reference and a reason to take a better photo, which is a perfectly good return for one tap.

Gaming it, and reading it sensibly

Chasing the rank with tricks, such as filters, edits or photos of someone else, defeats the point and breaks the terms, which require your own photo of an adult who consented. A rank is a position among what people chose to post, nothing more.

If you want your entry to reflect you without your name on it, appearing or staying hidden covers the choice. And once your score is where you want it, the AI judges are the next step for turning that photo into something else.

It also helps to remember the board is public. Posting as Anonymous is the default for a guest, and signing in puts your name on it, so decide which you want before you tap. The choice is yours each time, and it takes nothing away from the score.

Finally, keep expectations proportionate. A rank is a moment, and a better photo next month will beat a clever plan this week.