# How skatesum works \[was: When does a skatesum goal update?\]

**URL:** <https://forum.beeminder.com/t/how-skatesum-works-was-when-does-a-skatesum-goal-update/7139>\
**Category:** Tech\
**Created:** [August 17, 2020, 8:56pm UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/how-skatesum-works-was-when-does-a-skatesum-goal-update/7139 "2020-08-17T20:56:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![grayson](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.beeminder.com/grayson/32/1336_2.png) [@grayson](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/grayson)\
**Post date:** [August 17, 2020, 8:56pm UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/how-skatesum-works-was-when-does-a-skatesum-goal-update/7139/1 "2020-08-17T20:56:31Z")

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I’ve just created my first `skatesum` goal, and hit the daily target. The data point has been entered, but [the goal is still eeping](https://www.beeminder.com/grayson/do-steps-garmin)… I’ve got 66 minutes before deadline. Do `skatesum` goals perchance only add the data at deadline, or is something not working as it should be?

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**Author:** ![beeminder\_user](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee59a6/32.png) [@beeminder\_user](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/beeminder_user)\
**Post date:** [August 18, 2020, 10:07am UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/how-skatesum-works-was-when-does-a-skatesum-goal-update/7139/2 "2020-08-18T10:07:29Z")

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Have you modified graph limits manually? Because it renders in a really weird way.

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**Author:** ![grayson](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.beeminder.com/grayson/32/1336_2.png) [@grayson](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/grayson)\
**Post date:** [August 18, 2020, 10:36am UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/how-skatesum-works-was-when-does-a-skatesum-goal-update/7139/3 "2020-08-18T10:36:49Z")

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> [@beeminder\_user](#):
>
> Have you modified graph limits manually?

Yep.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![grayson](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.beeminder.com/grayson/32/1336_2.png) [@grayson](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/grayson)\
**Post date:** [August 18, 2020, 2:27pm UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/how-skatesum-works-was-when-does-a-skatesum-goal-update/7139/4 "2020-08-18T14:27:45Z")

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> [@grayson](#):
>
> Do `skatesum` goals perchance only add the data at deadline, or is something not working as it should be?

My goal derailed, which I take to mean something was not working as it should be 🙂 . I’ve responded to the legit check already, but some extra graphage is always helpful. And who knows, perhaps someone here can find the problem while I wait.

I temporarily zoomed the goal out for a look at what’s going on:

![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/uploads/beeminder/original/2X/1/1c65bec72f278633cf496aa1f9eeaa490c034cfa.png)

The goal was created on Aug 16, had a zero rate on that day, and then had a rate of 7500 per day from Aug 17 through September 27 (you can see that here, if you ignore the three middle entries added by last night’s derail):

![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/uploads/beeminder/original/2X/6/6f6982e2ab3b093b744f1a22f494cbd0d2fb28aa.png)

Here are my custom settings, if there’s anything obvious that’s causing the issue:

![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/uploads/beeminder/original/2X/5/5f8f2733d5217e5b9b59815d1c3a7ea0d8b9b6f8.png)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![grayson](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.beeminder.com/grayson/32/1336_2.png) [@grayson](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/grayson)\
**Post date:** [August 19, 2020, 7:26pm UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/how-skatesum-works-was-when-does-a-skatesum-goal-update/7139/5 "2020-08-19T19:26:20Z")

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First off: thanks to the amazing @shanaqui and @bee for super help in support. The rest of this post is my attempt to help future seekers of `skatesum` information, and to help support not have to deal with future seekers of `skatesum` information. 😁

**How `skatesum` aggregation works**

- `skatesum` takes **only the final road rate** into consideration when it decides what the cap value is for the plot. If your goal will do anything fancy at all—anything other than stay at the rate you gave it when you started it—then the graph will break when you change things and derails will boom into existence.
- `skatesum` is not officially supported. If you want your graph to have breaks, rate changes, or other not-the-same-rate-everywhere-forever, then `skatesum` won’t work the way you’re wanting it to. Abandon `skatesum` and find another way to do what you’re wanting to do.