Public numbers · named sources
Transparency
Two ledgers, not one. They measure different populations, they disagree, and we publish both rather than the flattering average of them.
Why two numbers instead of one
We count growth in two places, because two different things are worth knowing and no single measurement covers both.
One counts installs that opted in to the distribution game and knows the whole chain — who came from whom, several steps out. The other counts accounts that signed in and only ever sees one step. An install that never signs in exists in the first and not the second. An account that never joined the game exists in the second and not the first.
So the two will not agree, and the gap between them is not an error to be reconciled. The tempting move is to publish whichever is bigger, or to average them into one confident-sounding figure. That number would mean nothing, and it would be the number everyone quoted.
We would rather publish two awkward numbers than one convenient one.
Every figure below names its ledger. That is enforced by the build, not by our good intentions — a number added without a named source fails the deploy rather than shipping unlabelled.
The two ledgers
| Distribution-game ledger | Account-funnel ledger | |
|---|---|---|
| Who is counted | Every install that opted in to the distribution game. | Accounts that signed in. An install that never signs in is not here. |
| Granularity | Per-node edges — who came from whom, to N degrees. | Aggregate counts per cohort. No per-person row. |
| How far it can see | N (the depth cap is a season parameter) | 1 (direct attribution only) |
| Authoritative for | chains, standings and chain health | the account funnel |
| Source | DGS — dgm schema | SIS / D07 — sit.funnel_agg |
Ledger
opted-in installs, distribution-game ledger
Every install that opted in to the distribution game.
Nodes in the game. Not total installs — an install that never opted in is not counted anywhere.
Arrived through a share link whose token matched a real record. Everything ambiguous counts organic.
Depth actually reached, which is capped by the season's depth cap — see /seasons.
Points held pending appeal, never silently zeroed. Published because a fraud number you hide is a fraud number you are managing.
Ledger
signed-in accounts, licence-funnel ledger
Accounts that signed in. An install that never signs in is not here.
Sign-ins, not installs. The gap between this and the install count is real and we do not close it by arithmetic.
Degree 1 only. This ledger cannot see degree 2 and does not estimate it.
What we will not do with these
- No blended figure. Not a combined install count, not a combined growth rate, not an average of the two. If you see one number claiming to describe both populations, it is wrong and we want to know.
- No silent switching. A metric does not move to the ledger that flatters it. Each row above stays where it started, and a change of source is a change to this page with a note on the changelog.
- No inferred degree. The account ledger can see one step and does not model the rest. Where a number is unavailable it says so instead of being estimated.
- No identity behind any of it. The game ledger holds no email, no name, no stored IP and no third-party cookie; nodes are opaque identifiers. The details are on the privacy page.
Related
- Seasons and scoring weights — the exact numbers the game scores by, published in advance and immutable afterwards.
- Check it yourself — how to watch what does and does not leave your machine.
- Privacy and the Privacy Gap — what leaves, in which mode, and why.