Every number needs a type, date, and limitation

Evidence hierarchy

Measurements and estimates are not interchangeable

Financial model

Reproducing the current model-only band

Model version creatorstats-legacy-baseline-band-v1 wraps a legacy editorial baseline in a fixed uncertainty band. It does not infer assets, liabilities, private-company valuations, taxes, ownership percentages, or cash flow.

rangeLow  = round(legacyBaseline × 0.75)
rangeHigh = round(legacyBaseline × 1.25)
confidence = low
asOf = unknown

The band is a disclosure mechanism around weak legacy input—not proof that the true value lies inside it. The baseline itself is not displayed as an exact fact.

Audience freshness

A timestamp belongs to the field it measured

• Legacy unverified: the stored count has no defensible capture date and receives unknown confidence.
• API measurement: the value, captured timestamp, channel ID, provider, and operation are stored together.
• No fake freshness: a build date, copyright year, or biography edit cannot refresh an audience or financial field.
• YouTube rounding: public subscriber counts may be rounded by YouTube and retain that limitation.

Confidence

What each label means

Unknown

A legacy measurement without trustworthy capture metadata.

Low

The current model-only financial state. No field-level financial sources are stored.

Medium

Reserved for evidence-backed estimates that meet additional review criteria; not assigned by the legacy fallback.

High

Used for validated platform API measurements with capture provenance, not for private net-worth estimates.

Ranking policy

Midpoint ordering is navigation, not a verdict

Ranking pages order profiles by (rangeLow + rangeHigh) ÷ 2, with slug/name as a deterministic tie-breaker. The UI labels the order as modeled and preserves each range and confidence state.

Comparison policy

One pair, one canonical order

• Creator slugs are sorted lexically, so A-vs-B and B-vs-A cannot remain separate indexable pages.
• Reverse order, host, protocol, and trailing-slash variants consolidate in one permanent edge redirect while retaining the query string.
• All 7,381 unordered pairs remain usable as tools, but only 25 curated pairs are indexable and included in the sitemap.
• If financial ranges overlap, the product explicitly says there is no defensible winner.

History and corrections

Append verified observations; log corrections

New YouTube observations are appended only after a validated API response and only when a measured value or channel identity changes. Legacy net-worth history is not charted because its points lack source timestamps. Corrections should add evidence and a reason instead of silently rewriting the record.

Build gate

Invalid evidence blocks release

The validation command checks every profile, financial field, audience field, entity type, priority review, and append-only snapshot. A model-only field must have its version, range, low confidence, unknown date, limitations, and zero fabricated sources. A sourced financial estimate must carry a date and at least two financial sources.