# Ratchets and back-dating data **URL:** \ **Category:** Bugabee\ **Created:** [November 19, 2015, 10:14am UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/ratchets-and-back-dating-data/1635 "2015-11-19T10:14:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![drmaciver](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.beeminder.com/drmaciver/32/80_2.png) [@drmaciver](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/drmaciver)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2015, 10:14am UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/ratchets-and-back-dating-data/1635/1 "2015-11-19T10:14:50Z")
I’ve noticed a weird interaction. It makes sense given the model, but feels like it creates the wrong behaviour: If I enter a data point for yesterday, then ratchet, this creates a different gap between my current data and the road than if I do these operations the other way around: In the former, the ratchet absorbs the difference, in the latter the ratchet does not. Intuitively what “should” happen is that if I enter a data point for before the ratchet, it should be absorbed by the ratchet as much as possible. This isn’t a _major_ problem for me, but its lack means that I am semi forced to never backdate data on a particular goal, because I have it designed to auto ratchet to the two week mark and in normal operation it should always be hovering around that mark (it’s a rolling budget for certain classes of spending which are very high variance on a week by week basis and I don’t want to allow the budget to build up too much on “quiet” weeks). ---
**Author:** ![philip](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.beeminder.com/philip/32/1505_2.png) [@philip](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/philip)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2015, 10:45am UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/ratchets-and-back-dating-data/1635/2 "2015-11-19T10:45:05Z")
> [@drmaciver](#): > > Intuitively what “should” happen is that if I enter a data point for before the ratchet, it should be absorbed by the ratchet as much as possible. i.e. a ratchet should be a first class citizen, like a datapoint ---
**Author:** ![drmaciver](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.beeminder.com/drmaciver/32/80_2.png) [@drmaciver](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/drmaciver)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2015, 11:59am UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/ratchets-and-back-dating-data/1635/3 "2015-11-19T11:59:27Z")
That would certainly be nice. It would be especially nice if this resulted in a log of where they occurred, as this has confused me before and probably will again. 😄