The Map

What counts

Two numbers, and they are not the same thing. Live members — live members — age-verified people with a published intro — is who you could watch right now, and it is the only number the countdown tracks. Members — members — real, active accounts in the region, whether or not their intro is up right now — is everyone who is here, including the people whose intro came down yesterday and who will put another one up.

Neither counts downloads, sign-ups, or accounts someone abandoned at the age check. If a region says 27 live members, that's 27 real, verified people you could actually meet. Under 10 of either and we show a band instead of a number — the same rule for both, so they can never look more precise than they are.

Thresholds are frozen promises

A region's targets are set before the counting starts, and they don't quietly move. If a threshold ever has to change, the change — and the reason for it — goes in a public change log on this page. No silent goalpost-shifting.

Fraud gets corrected in public

If we remove fake or fraudulent accounts, the affected region's count goes down, visibly, and we say so.

A number that only ever goes up isn't a number — it's marketing.

Why some regions say "under 10"

When a region has fewer than ten live members, we show a band instead of an exact count — small numbers wobble, and we'd rather not dress up a 3 as momentum. A less precise number is still a true number.

A party, not a paywall

Crossing a threshold changes nothing about how the app works — not for you, not for anyone. Ether is exactly the same app at 9 members as at 900. When a region lights up, that's a celebration of the people who got it there. It's a party, not a paywall.