diff --git a/public/app.js b/public/app.js
index b647718..7d64081 100644
--- a/public/app.js
+++ b/public/app.js
@@ -228,6 +228,7 @@ async function createFeedbackMap(event) {
   event.preventDefault();
   const submit = form.querySelector('button[type="submit"]');
   const payload = Object.fromEntries(new FormData(form).entries());
+  if (!String(payload.optionsText || '').trim()) payload.optionsText = payload.idea;
   submit.disabled = true;
   submit.textContent = 'Judging…';
   try {
diff --git a/public/index.html b/public/index.html
index eb7ebc0..4c38ade 100644
--- a/public/index.html
+++ b/public/index.html
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@
           <div class="hero-copy">
             <p class="eyebrow">Feedback intake for ideas, features, offers, and next moves</p>
             <h1 id="hero-title">Submit the mess. Get a defended first move.</h1>
-            <p class="lede">Ranker is the front door to useful feedback: paste an idea plus the features or possible moves around it, choose the judgement lens, and get a decision brief with reasons, risks, expert reflections, and next steps.</p>
+            <p class="lede">Ranker is the front door to useful feedback: paste the messy backlog as-is, choose the judgement lens, and get a decision brief with reasons, risks, expert reflections, and next steps.</p>
             <div class="hero-actions">
               <a class="button primary" href="#try">Rank a messy list</a>
               <button class="button ghost" type="button" id="loadSampleTop">Load sample</button>
@@ -59,18 +59,18 @@
         <div class="tool-intro">
           <p class="eyebrow">MVP · feedback front door · no account · no dashboard swamp</p>
           <h2 id="try-title">Send a decision brief to the room</h2>
-          <p>Describe what you want feedback on, then list the possible features, directions, offers, or next steps. Ranker gives you the quick judgement first, then the deeper reflections.</p>
+          <p>Paste the backlog, rough notes, feature dump, or possible next moves. Ranker will extract candidates when it can; use the optional candidate box only if you already have a cleaner list.</p>
         </div>
 
         <form class="rank-form" id="rankForm">
           <label>
-            <span>What do you want feedback on?</span>
-            <textarea name="idea" rows="4" placeholder="Example: I’m building a tool that helps freelancers package their services and decide what to sell first."></textarea>
+            <span>Paste the messy backlog / idea dump <b>required</b></span>
+            <textarea name="idea" rows="8" required placeholder="Example: I’m building a tool that helps freelancers package their services and decide what to sell first. Maybe offer critique, pricing calculator, proposal generator, landing page copywriter, client persona mapper, and some kind of dashboard later? I only have a week and want the fastest useful proof."></textarea>
           </label>
 
           <label>
-            <span>Possible moves / features / functionality <b>required</b></span>
-            <textarea name="optionsText" rows="9" required placeholder="One per line. Bullets, rambling, half-thoughts are fine.
+            <span>Candidate moves, if you want to separate them <em>optional</em></span>
+            <textarea name="optionsText" rows="7" placeholder="Optional. One per line is easiest, but bullets and half-thoughts are fine.
 - Offer critique
 - Pricing calculator
 - Proposal generator
diff --git a/scripts/check-rank-feedback.mjs b/scripts/check-rank-feedback.mjs
index 774ad51..6e530c8 100644
--- a/scripts/check-rank-feedback.mjs
+++ b/scripts/check-rank-feedback.mjs
@@ -97,6 +97,25 @@ try {
   assert.ok(data.brief.whatWouldChangeRanking.some(item => /evidence fails|re-run the order/i.test(item)));
   assert.ok(Array.isArray(data.brief.assumptions));
 
+  const messyIdeaOnlyResponse = await fetch(`${base}/api/rank-feedback`, {
+    method: 'POST',
+    headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
+    body: JSON.stringify({
+      idea: 'I’m building a tool that helps freelancers package their services and decide what to sell first. Maybe offer critique, pricing calculator, proposal generator, landing page copywriter, client persona mapper, and some kind of dashboard later? I only have a week and want the fastest useful proof.',
+      context: 'Solo builder. Manual proof first. Avoid dashboards, accounts, and saved workspaces before evidence.',
+      mode: 'validation',
+    }),
+  });
+  assert.equal(messyIdeaOnlyResponse.status, 200);
+  const messyIdeaOnly = await messyIdeaOnlyResponse.json();
+  assert.equal(messyIdeaOnly.input.optionCount, 6, 'idea-only messy dumps should be split into rank-ready candidates');
+  assert.ok(messyIdeaOnly.ranked.some(item => /Offer critique/i.test(item.title)));
+  assert.ok(messyIdeaOnly.ranked.some(item => /Pricing calculator/i.test(item.title)));
+  assert.equal(messyIdeaOnly.ranked.find(item => /dashboard/i.test(item.title)).lane.source, 'source-non-goal');
+  assert.ok(!/dashboard/i.test(messyIdeaOnly.ranked[0].title), 'dashboard-flavored candidate must not win tired-user first pass');
+  assert.ok(!messyIdeaOnly.handoff.warnings.some(item => /missing source section|missing original prompt/.test(item)));
+  assert.ok(messyIdeaOnly.handoff.warnings.includes('missing source artifact id'));
+
   const hintedResponse = await fetch(`${base}/api/rank-feedback`, {
     method: 'POST',
     headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
diff --git a/server.js b/server.js
index 8fa7234..c27c949 100644
--- a/server.js
+++ b/server.js
@@ -428,18 +428,40 @@ function hits(text, words) {
   return words.reduce((count, word) => count + (lower.includes(word) ? 1 : 0), 0);
 }
 
-function parseOptionsFromText(value) {
+function parseOptionsFromText(value, sourceSection = 'optionsText') {
   const text = cleanMultiline(value, 12000);
-  const lines = text.split('\n').map(line => line.replace(/^\s*[-*•\d.)]+\s*/, '').trim()).filter(Boolean);
-  const optionLines = lines.length >= 2 ? lines : text.split(/[;|]/).map(part => part.trim()).filter(Boolean);
+  const candidateText = /\b(maybe|possibly|options?|features?|ideas?|next moves?|functionality|backlog)\b[:\s]/i.test(text)
+    ? text.replace(/^[\s\S]*?\b(maybe|possibly|options?|features?|ideas?|next moves?|functionality|backlog)\b[:\s]*/i, '')
+    : text;
+  const cleanedLines = candidateText.split('\n').map(line => line.replace(/^\s*[-*•\d.)]+\s*/, '').trim()).filter(Boolean);
+  const sentenceList = candidateText
+    .replace(/\b(maybe|possibly|options?|features?|ideas?|next moves?|functionality|backlog)\s*:/gi, '\n')
+    .split(/\n|;|\|/)
+    .map(part => part.replace(/^\s*[-*•\d.)]+\s*/, '').trim())
+    .filter(Boolean);
+  const commaList = sentenceList.length === 1
+    ? sentenceList[0].split(/,|\s+and\s+|[.!?]\s+/i).map(part => part.trim()).filter(Boolean)
+    : [];
+  const optionLines = cleanedLines.length >= 2
+    ? cleanedLines
+    : sentenceList.length >= 2
+      ? sentenceList
+      : commaList.length >= 2
+        ? commaList
+        : candidateText.split(/[;|]/).map(part => part.trim()).filter(Boolean);
   return optionLines.slice(0, 24).map((line, index) => {
-    const [rawTitle, ...rest] = line.split(/\s*[-–—:]\s+/);
+    const normalized = line
+      .replace(/^\s*(maybe|possibly|also|plus|and|or|then|later|eventually|build|add|include|some kind of|kind of)\b\s*/i, '')
+      .replace(/\?+$/, '')
+      .trim();
+    const [rawTitle, ...rest] = normalized.split(/\s*[-–—:]\s+/);
     return {
       id: `option-${index + 1}`,
-      title: cleanText(rawTitle || line, 140),
+      title: cleanText(rawTitle || normalized || line, 140),
       description: cleanText(rest.join(' — '), 420),
+      provenance: { sourceSection },
     };
-  }).filter(item => item.title);
+  }).filter(item => item.title && !/^(i('| a)?m|i am|we are|i only|want|need)\b/i.test(item.title));
 }
 
 function objectFrom(value) {
@@ -458,7 +480,7 @@ function cleanProvenance(input = {}) {
     artifactId: cleanText(input.artifactId || input.sourceArtifactId || input.referenceCode || input.reference_code || artifact.id || source.artifactId || conceptMap.artifactId || conceptMap.id || conceptMap.referenceCode || conceptMap.reference_code || snapshot.artifactId || snapshot.id || '', 120),
     snapshotTitle: cleanText(input.snapshotTitle || input.working_name || input.workingName || artifact.snapshotTitle || snapshot.title || snapshot.name || conceptMap.snapshotTitle || conceptMap.working_name || conceptMap.workingName || input.ideaTitle || '', 160),
     conceptMapId: cleanText(input.conceptMapId || artifact.conceptMapId || conceptMap.id || conceptMap.artifactId || input.referenceCode || input.reference_code || conceptMap.referenceCode || conceptMap.reference_code || '', 120),
-    originalPrompt: cleanMultiline(input.originalPrompt || input.initialPrompt || input.ideaText || input.prompt || artifact.originalPrompt || source.originalPrompt || snapshot.originalPrompt || snapshot.prompt || conceptMap.originalPrompt || conceptMap.ideaText || '', 1200),
+    originalPrompt: cleanMultiline(input.originalPrompt || input.initialPrompt || input.ideaText || input.prompt || artifact.originalPrompt || source.originalPrompt || snapshot.originalPrompt || snapshot.prompt || conceptMap.originalPrompt || conceptMap.ideaText || input.idea || '', 1200),
   };
 }
 
@@ -560,7 +582,11 @@ function nonGoalConflicts(optionText, decisionContext = {}) {
   const lower = String(optionText || '').toLowerCase();
   return (decisionContext.nonGoals || []).filter(nonGoal => {
     const tokens = meaningfulTokens(nonGoal);
-    return tokens.length > 0 && tokens.some(token => lower.includes(token));
+    return tokens.length > 0 && tokens.some(token => {
+      if (lower.includes(token)) return true;
+      const singular = token.endsWith('ies') ? `${token.slice(0, -3)}y` : token.replace(/(?:es|s)$/, '');
+      return singular.length >= 4 && lower.includes(singular);
+    });
   });
 }
 
@@ -704,7 +730,15 @@ function optionsFromBody(body = {}) {
   if (Array.isArray(body.options)) {
     return normalizeOptionIds(body.options.slice(0, 24).map((item, index) => normalizeFeatureOption(item, index, 'option', 'options')).filter(item => item.title));
   }
-  return normalizeOptionIds(parseOptionsFromText(body.optionsText || featureSet.optionsText || conceptMap.optionsText || ''));
+  const fallbackText = body.optionsText || featureSet.optionsText || conceptMap.optionsText || body.idea || body.ideaText || '';
+  const fallbackSourceSection = body.optionsText || featureSet.optionsText || conceptMap.optionsText
+    ? 'optionsText'
+    : body.idea
+      ? 'idea'
+      : body.ideaText
+        ? 'ideaText'
+        : 'optionsText';
+  return normalizeOptionIds(parseOptionsFromText(fallbackText, fallbackSourceSection));
 }
 
 function scoreOption(option, mode, context = '', decisionContext = {}) {