Sit above the board.
8 slots run in rails either side of the board, from $99 for 7 days. Unlike a bid, this is spent rather than held — it buys attention for a fixed term and nothing else.
How this differs from bidding
A bid is a stake: it buys rank, it is held rather than spent, and half of it comes straight back when someone outbids you. A sponsored slot buys none of that. It cannot be outbid, it does not move, and it ends on a date.
Sponsored slots are marked and sit outside the ladder, so nobody is misled about which positions were won and which were bought. Outbound links carry rel="nofollow sponsored".