Collateral based scoring

[LandynDev]

Collateral-Based Scoring System

Problem

Miners can spam PRs at high-weighted repos with 'low' risk - the only penalty is a ding to their success ratio.
This incentivizes "homerun shots" or things similar to that nature which ultimately leads to lengthy review times for maintainers.

Solution

Open PRs now incur collateral - a percentage (20%) of their potential score is deducted from the miner's total until the PR resolves (is either closed or merged).

Analogous Impact

As Sam0x17 said:

That’s neither here nor there though, if this was a hose you are talking about the intensity of the hose [amount of PRs] and I’m talking about whether there is lead in the water [quality of PRs]

This proposed implementation helps address the lead in the water. Previously, miners could spray the hose freely and only face consequences after - a slight ding to their success ratio. Now, by requiring collateral on open PRs, miners must drink their own water first.

If they're confident it's clean water (quality contribution), they'll gladly pay the temporary cost knowing they'll be reimbursed when it merges. If they know it's lead-filled slop, they're less likely to poison their own score just to spray it at maintainers.

The collateral system is a step toward making miners have skin in the game before the merge decision, not just after.

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How It Works

Example

Assume an active miner has:
- 3 merged PRs earning a total of 30 points
- 1 open PR with up to 100 potential points if merged

Current scoring (no collateral):
- Only merged PRs count
- Score = 30 points
- Open PRs have no effect

Scoring with collateral deduction:
- Open PRs apply a temporary collateral deduction based on potential score

Inputs:
- Open PR potential score: 100
- POTENTIAL_SCORE_COLLATERAL_PERCENT: 20%

Collateral calculation:
- Collateral deduction = 100 × 0.20 = 20

Current miner score (while PR is open):
- 30 points from merged PRs
- 20 points deducted as open PR collateral
= 10 points

PR resolution outcomes:
- If the PR is **closed**:
  - Collateral is released
  - Miner score returns to **30 points**
  - Success ratio is worsened as an unsuccessful contribution attempt was made (existing logic)
- If the PR is **merged**:
  - Full PR score is awarded
  - Miner score becomes **10 + 100 = 110 points**

Summary:
- Open PRs temporarily reduce score via collateral
- Closing a PR restores the previous score
- Merging a PR increases the score by its full value

If the PR is closed, then the collateral point deduction goes away as the PR is no longer open. However, a closed PR will impact the miners success ratio credibility as it takes a ding due to an unsuccessful attempt.

Key Constants

• COLLATERAL_EFFECTIVE_DATE - Only PRs created after this date are subject to collateral. Date is 2025-12-19, 12PM EST.
• POTENTIAL_SCORE_COLLATERAL_PERCENT = 0.20 - 20% of potential score as collateral
• COLLATERAL_REINFLATION_MULTIPLIER = 1.20 - Boost for merged PRs post-effective-date

Scoring Flow Changes

Fetch PRs (merged + open)
    ↓
Score merged PRs → earned_score
Score open PRs   → base_score + multipliers
    ↓
Finalize merged (uniqueness + reinflation if post-effective-date)
Deduct collateral from open PRs (post-effective-date only)
    ↓
final_score = max(0, earned_score - collateral)

Collateral Multipliers Applied to Open PR Scores

Applied: repo_weight, gittensor_tag, open_pr_spam
Not applied: time_decay, merge_success, uniqueness (merge/cross-miner dependent)