Where researchers connect, discuss, and discover
The social layer of Researchful. Join 1,200+ subject-specific communities, ask bountied research questions, message peers directly, and build a reputation profile that travels with you across the platform.
Four feeds, one purpose: signal over noise
The Lounge feed is not an endless scroll. It is a structured stream organized into four tabs — Following, New, Questions, and Trending — so you can pick the mode that matches what you are trying to do right now. Every post card carries the context you need to decide whether to engage: author, community, topic, reactions, and thread depth.
- Four feed modes for four different intents
- Rich post cards with reactions, saves, and thread depth
- Infinite scroll with optimistic loading and skeleton states
- Per-tab filters for topic, community, and recency
Posts from researchers and communities you follow.
The freshest posts across the Lounge, in reverse chronological order.
Open research questions waiting for a peer answer.
Posts with the highest velocity in the last 24 hours.
Subject-specific groups with real moderation
Communities are subject-specific groups where researchers gather around a shared topic. Each community has its own rules, moderator team, and pinned posts. Create your own community around any research topic, write the rules, appoint moderators, and approve who can join. Public communities are open to everyone; private communities require an invite or an approval workflow.
- 1,200+ subject-specific communities and counting
- Owner-defined rules, moderator roles, and approval workflows
- Public, private, and invite-only community types
- Pinned posts, community guidelines, and member directory
Bountied questions, best answers, real reputation
Ask a hard research question and attach a reputation bounty to draw answers from specialists. The community votes on answers, you accept one as the best, and the answerer earns the bounty. Reputation earned this way is visible on the profile and unlocks badges over time — Curator, Specialist, Mentor, and Elder — that signal trust to the wider network.
- Attach reputation bounties to draw specialist answers
- Community voting plus owner-accepted best answer
- Reputation accrues to your profile and unlocks badges
- Best answers are pinned to the question for future readers
1:1 and group chats with file sharing
Message a peer directly or pull up to 32 researchers into a group thread. Share files up to 25 MB, drag images inline, and react to individual messages. Threads are end-to-end encrypted between participants, can be muted, archived, or reported, and are never indexed for public search.
- 1:1 chats and group threads up to 32 members
- File sharing up to 25 MB per file with inline previews
- End-to-end encrypted between participants
- Mute, archive, and report — never indexed for search
Reputation, badges, pinned posts, and follows
Your Lounge profile is your researcher identity across the platform. Reputation earned from bountied answers accrues to your profile. Badges — Curator, Specialist, Mentor, Elder — signal trust to the network. Pin your best posts to the top of your profile, list the communities you moderate, and let other researchers follow your work.
- Reputation accrues from accepted answers and bounties
- Trust badges: Curator, Specialist, Mentor, Elder
- Pin your best posts to the top of your profile
- Follow and be followed by other researchers
Search posts, communities, and users in one place
A single search bar across the entire Lounge. Switch between Posts, Communities, and Users with one tap. Filter results by topic, recency, and reputation. Save frequent searches and get notified when new content matches them. Every result includes the context you need to decide whether to engage.
- Unified search across posts, communities, and users
- Filter by topic, recency, and reputation
- Save frequent searches and subscribe to new matches
- Full-text search inside every post and thread
Real-time alerts for the events that matter
Notifications are delivered in real time over a Server-Sent Events stream — no polling, no refresh, no delay. Every event type is categorized and configurable: answers, best answers, mentions, community invites, new followers, and bounty awards. Mute any category, batch deliveries by digest, and clear all with one tap.
- Real-time SSE stream — no polling, no refresh
- Per-type mute controls and digest batching
- Inline actions — accept, dismiss, or follow back
- Mark all as read and unread badge sync across devices
AI topic detection, quality signals, and rate limits
The Lounge is moderated by a layered system. An AI topic detector classifies every post the moment it is submitted — off-topic posts in a community are flagged for moderator review. Quality signals rate the depth and originality of each post and feed back into feed ranking. Duplicate and near-duplicate posts are grouped. Rate limits prevent spam without blocking legitimate engagement.
- AI topic detection flags off-topic posts for review
- Quality signals rate depth and originality
- Duplicate and near-duplicate posts are grouped
- Rate limits prevent spam without blocking real engagement
Connected to Flow and Lib — one research graph
ResearchLounge is not an island. Push a paper from Lib into a Lounge thread, post a Flow chapter draft to a private community for feedback, and sync accepted Q&A answers back into your Flow review checklist.
Push a paper into a community thread to discuss it with peers.
Post a chapter draft to a private community for supervised feedback.
Sync accepted Q&A answers into your Flow review checklist.
Questions about ResearchLounge
Everything you need to know before you join the Lounge.
Is ResearchLounge free to join?
Browsing the public feed, joining open communities, and asking questions is free for every researcher with a Researchful account. Creating private communities, hosting bountied Q&A, and using direct messaging with file sharing require a Student Pro or Researcher plan.
How does the Q&A bounty system work?
When you ask a hard research question, you can attach a reputation bounty. Researchers post answers, the community votes, and the question owner accepts one as the best answer. The accepted answer earns the bounty as reputation, which is visible on the answerer profile and unlocks badges over time.
Can I moderate my own community?
Yes. Any researcher can create a community around a research topic. As the owner you write the rules, approve member requests, appoint moderators, pin posts, and remove content that violates your community standards. Moderation actions are logged and visible to your team.
How does the AI topic detection work?
Every post is classified by an AI topic detector the moment it is submitted. Off-topic posts in a community are flagged for moderator review, low-quality posts receive a quality signal that limits their reach, and duplicate or near-duplicate posts are grouped for the reader. The detector never deletes content — it only surfaces signals.
Does ResearchLounge integrate with Flow and Lib?
Yes. You can push any source from ResearchLib into a Lounge post with one tap. You can also post a ResearchFlow chapter draft to a community for feedback, and feedback collected in Lounge threads can be synced back to your Flow review checklist. The three products share a single research graph.
How are direct messages protected?
Direct messages are end-to-end encrypted between participants. Group conversations support up to 32 members, support file sharing up to 25 MB per file, and can be muted, archived, or reported. Messages are never indexed for public search and never used for AI training.
Join 54,000+ researchers in the Lounge
Create your free account, join your first community, and ask your first question today.