# Deciding

> What each decision on an opportunity does, from Move forward to Not worth it, and what Scout learns from it.

Every opportunity waits on one of three decisions. Scout does not make them. It makes its case, shows its evidence, and leaves the choice to a person, because the choice is the part that teaches it what you want.

## Move forward

**Move forward** approves the topic. Scout starts researching it straight away: what searchers want, what the pages that rank already cover, what nothing covers, facts with a source. The topic becomes an article in [Content](/content/the-pipeline) at its first stage, and its status here changes to Approved, then In progress.

Approving is the point at which Scout starts spending real effort on a topic, so it is available to editors, admins and owners. It is not undone from this screen; an article you no longer want is dealt with in Content.

## Not worth it

**Not worth it** rejects the topic. A dialog asks "Why is this not worth it?" The reason is optional but useful: "it is the fastest way to teach Scout what you do not want. It reads every rejection." Scout weighs topics like a rejected one lower in future.

The dialog also offers **Keep topics like this out from now on**. Ticking it writes a rule that removes matching open topics now and stops Scout proposing them again. You choose how the rule matches:

| Match                         | What it removes                                                                                                                                     |
| ----------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **exactly this keyword**      | Only this phrase.                                                                                                                                   |
| **anything mentioning this**  | Any topic whose keyword contains the phrase.                                                                                                        |
| **anything about this theme** | Any topic that is really about this subject, whatever words the search uses. "Scout reads each candidate and keeps out the ones really about this." |

The rule appears under [Topics Scout won't propose](/playbook/topics-scout-wont-propose), where you can see how many topics it has removed and delete it. Rejected topics stay on the **Not worth it** filter.

## Do it anyway

On a flagged topic the row action is **Do it anyway** instead. It overrides the guardrail and puts the topic into the queue as open, with your optional reason recorded. See [Guardrails and flagged topics](/opportunities/guardrails-and-flagged-topics).

## Find another angle

On the topic's own page, **Find another angle** asks Scout to propose a different approach and title for the same topic without changing its score. Use it when the topic is right but the way in is not.

## Shortlisted

**Shortlisted** is your holding state: a topic you want to keep in view without approving yet. It stays out of the open count, keeps its score up to date, and is never moved by Scout. Only a person moves a topic in or out of the shortlist.

## What a rebuild changes, and what it never touches

Scout rebuilds the queue on the cadence set for your workspace, and refreshes scores on open topics every day. Two rules govern what that can move.

Open topics move. A topic nobody has decided on can rise or fall in score, can be flagged if it stops clearing a guardrail, and can return to the queue if it clears one again.

Decided topics do not. Approved, in-progress and rejected topics keep the score they were judged on, because a score that moved after you acted on it would explain nothing and rewrite the record of why you acted. A shortlisted topic is re-scored, since its score is still information you are weighing, but its status is left alone.

## Related

- [Reading the queue](/opportunities/reading-the-queue)
- [Topic and outline review](/content/topic-and-outline-review), the next screen after Move forward.