How Dossiary knows
what it knows.
last updated 2026-09-01 · this page changes when the pipeline changes
Dossiary is a record of creators, built from evidence. Every stored number answers three questions: where it came from, when it was observed, and how sure we are. This page explains how, in plain sentences you can quote.
Where every number comes from
Every important fact in the record answers three questions. The source names where the value was read — a platform API, a licensed vendor, or a collector we run. The date we checked says when it was read; nothing pretends to be current. The confidence says how much you should trust it — high, medium, or low. A fact missing any of the three does not enter the record.
Where the data comes from
- Telegrama collector we host ourselves, on Telegram's own APIs.
- YouTubethe official YouTube Data API.
- Instagram and TikToklicensed commercial data vendors, swappable per record. The vendor is stamped into each reading's source.
- X, Facebook, Snapchatlinked handles and basic stats only, for now.
The record holds public information: public profiles and their public counts. Classification — a creator's category, or how strongly an account is affiliated with Nigeria — is machine-inferred and always labeled with its own, usually lower, confidence.
What the confidence levels mean
- highRead directly from a platform API or a collector we run, parsed without ambiguity.
- mediumFrom a licensed vendor's read of a public page, parsed cleanly.
- lowInferred — a category guess, an affiliation score — or aged past its freshness window.
How often we re-check
Full profiles are re-checked every few days. Basic profiles are re-checked on a slower cycle, roughly monthly. When someone opens a profile whose numbers have aged, we queue a fresh check straight away and show the age in the meantime. An old number is never shown as if it were current.
Basic and full profiles
A creator we've just found starts as a basic profile: handle, followers, what they post about, and when we last checked — shown with honest, low confidence. A creator we go deeper on becomes a full profile: what they charge, how to reach them, who they've worked with, with identity, contact details, rates and audience each checked separately and each carrying its own age. Search covers both, and which one you're looking at is always visible.
Where humans stay in the loop
Two things never happen automatically. Merging two creator records into one waits for human approval, and both histories are preserved. Attaching a regulated category — sports betting, for example — also waits for human approval. Machine suggestions queue for review; they do not publish themselves.
What we refuse
Top spots are never for sale; paid visibility is labelled and never moves a position. Unknown values are never rendered as zero and never penalized. And we publish no invented trust signals — no fabricated testimonials, no padded counts. Where this page names a number, that number has a source.
Questions we get
- Where does Dossiary's data come from?
- From platform APIs where they exist, from licensed commercial data vendors where they don't, and from collectors we run ourselves. Every reading is stamped with its named source. The record holds public information: public profiles and their public counts.
- What do the confidence levels mean?
- High means the value was read directly from a platform API or a collector we run, and parsed without ambiguity. Medium means it came from a licensed vendor's read of a public page, parsed cleanly. Low means it is inferred — a category guess, an affiliation score — or the value has aged past its freshness window.
- How fresh is the data?
- Full profiles are re-checked every few days. Basic profiles are re-checked on a slower cycle, roughly monthly. When someone opens a profile whose numbers have aged, we queue a fresh check straight away and show the age in the meantime — an old number is never shown as if it were current.
- What happens when Dossiary doesn't know something?
- It renders as unknown. Unknown is never displayed as zero, and it is never treated as a penalty when creators are compared.
- Can a creator pay to rank higher?
- No. Top creators are ranked on merit and never for sale. Paid visibility exists as clearly labelled placement next to results — it never changes a position.
- Which platforms are covered?
- Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and Telegram are the depth lanes — Telegram's collector is live today, and the rest come online during the beta. X, Facebook and Snapchat are tracked as linked handles with basic stats for now.
- Can I correct a number about me?
- Yes. Write to hello@dossiary.app with the correction and its evidence. Corrections with evidence outrank everything else in our queue, and a way for creators to claim their own profile is planned.