Disclosed is a method and system for ranking answers supplied by user authors in an online database. A first author enters a first answer under a question. The answer is ranked #1 for output under that question. Then a second author enters a second answer under the same question. The second author also enters a bet claiming that her answer is better than the first answer. If the first author declines the bet, the second answer becomes ranked #1 for output under the question. If the first author accepts the bet, the bet is decided by a judge. The judge enters her decision into the answer database system.If the judge finds that the first author's answer is better than the second author's, then the first author's answer remains ranked first under the question; if the judge finds that the second author's answer is better, then second author's answer replaces the first author's answer as the #1 ranked answer under the question.