The Hardcore News reader club
FEED YOUR BRAIN.
KEEP THE CREDIT.
Context looks good on you. So will the merch.
Your Brain Bank
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BRAIN POINTS
Read first. Decide whether to keep the points.
Continue with ChatGPT to create or access your reader account. No newsletter subscription is added.
You’re signed in. Eligible reading points stay with your account.
Sign out01 / Read something real
Past the headline.
Into the story.
Earn 10 pending Brain Points per qualifying article. Spend at least 90 seconds actively reading and reach the ending. One reward per article, up to 30 points a day. Days reset at midnight UTC.
02 / Keep your credit
Your brain did the work.
Your account keeps the points.
Guest points expire seven days after your guest session begins. Sign in and bank eligible guest points before then. Clearing browser data or changing devices can make unclaimed points unrecoverable.
03 / The future looks wearable
Merch is the plan.
Honesty is the rule.
Merch rewards are planned. Redemption is closed. No reward catalog, exchange rate or launch date has been announced. All points are pending review, have no cash value and cannot be transferred or sold.
The rules. In plain English.
These are early-access reading credits, not a promise of a particular product. Earning does not require a purchase. Reading remains free without an account.
Repeat visits, multiple tabs, edited browser balances, account changes and repeated claims do not create extra eligible awards. Account transfers preserve the original earning date and the 30-point daily cap; duplicate or excess guest awards do not transfer. Browser activity suggests participation, not comprehension.
Automated activity, fake accounts and manipulated claims are ineligible. Suspicious credits may be held or removed after review. Contact the editor if you believe a decision is wrong. Redemption will require published rules and further abuse controls before opening.
We store a first-party, secure guest cookie for seven days, article reward records and server-timed reading sessions. Signed-in records use your site account identifier. Connection addresses are hashed into short-lived abuse buckets; raw addresses are not stored in the rewards ledger. Rewards are separate from optional readership analytics and email subscriptions. Unclaimed expired guest data is removed periodically; claimed records remain for duplicate-claim prevention and account accounting.
Prefer to leave the points? . This does not erase knowledge, saved stories or account points.