How it works

Here is exactly what happens between typing a subject and seeing it on the site.

1. You pick a subject and a lens

The subject is the thing you want explained. The lens is something you already know well: a job, a team, a show, a hobby, a shop. Anyone can browse existing combinations with the two drop-downs. To make a new one you need a free account.

2. We check the request

Before anything is written, the request is checked against a blocklist and our rules. We do not make relatables about hateful, sexual or harmful topics, real tragedies, private individuals, or lenses that describe a painful personal circumstance such as bereavement or illness. If a combination already exists, you are taken straight to it and nothing new is generated.

3. An AI writes the relatable

A new combination is written once, by an AI language model, from a fixed brief. It asks for around 300 words, an opening hook, named comparisons between the two worlds, UK spelling, and a final sentence beginning “Where the analogy breaks down” that names a real limit of the comparison. Because the same brief is used every time, relatables share a voice and a structure.

4. Automatic checks

Each relatable is checked for length, the closing line and formatting. A relatable that fails is not deleted, but it is marked so a reviewer knows to look harder.

5. A person reviews it

New relatables are visible to the member who made them by link, but they are hidden from search engines, the drop-downs, the sitemap and the leaderboard until a reviewer approves them. Reviewers read the whole thing for accuracy, tone and whether it is actually funny. Weak ones are never published.

6. The community takes over

Once approved, a relatable appears in the library. Members can upvote or downvote it and add emoji reactions, and anyone can share it. Anyone can flag it, and a relatable flagged by several different people is hidden automatically until a reviewer looks again. You cannot vote on your own relatables.

Limits

Browsing is unlimited. Making new relatables is limited each day per member so that the site stays free to run.

More detail is in our editorial policy and FAQ.