Buttondown metadata
metadata__referral_source
Source: Incoming subscribe URL ?ref= token
Public use: Never displayed raw; used only to attribute a confirmed subscriber to an inviter.
Referral wiring
Buttondown-first leaderboard prep.
This is the MY-2571 wiring checklist for turning static referral links into confirmed, privacy-safe Buttondown attribution. It is internal prep only: no public rankings, prize winners, sponsor-backed rewards or subscriber records are exposed.
Do not publish live rankings, prize winners, private emails or sponsor-backed rewards until Buttondown attribution is verified and the editor approves the public launch.
Metadata fields
The subscribe form now exposes the fields Buttondown needs to preserve referral attribution.
Buttondown metadata
metadata__reader_token
Source: Browser-local share token generated on /share/
Public use: Can be mapped to an approved display name after opt-in.
Buttondown metadata
metadata__signup_market
Source: Static hidden field
Public use: Market filter for West London referral dashboards.
Buttondown metadata
tag
Source: Buttondown embedded form tag website-subscribe
Public use: Operational filter only; never shown to readers.
Webhook gates
Do not increment public totals until these checks are true.
Gates
- Buttondown subscriber.created or equivalent event is received with metadata fields intact.
- Confirmation state is checked before a referral increments public totals.
- Self-referrals, duplicate aliases and same-household abuse patterns are excluded before scoring.
- A private attribution table exists separately from the public leaderboard view.
- Leaderboard cache can be rebuilt without exposing raw subscriber records.
- Manual kill switch hides public rankings if abuse, privacy or sponsor-risk flags appear.
Launch sequence
- Keep /share/ and /subscribe/ static referral capture in place.
- Verify Buttondown stores referral_source, reader_token and signup_market from embedded form submissions.
- Backfill a private referral ledger from confirmed subscribers only.
- Generate a redacted leaderboard JSON containing publicColumns only.
- Review reward wording and sponsor-backed prize terms manually.
- Publish public rankings only after the editor approves the live leaderboard.