Never Let the Network Grade Its Own Homework

Ask an ad network how many conversions it drove and it will tell you a beautiful number. Of course it will. It is grading its own homework, it gets paid on the grade, and its attribution window conveniently swallows every conversion that would have happened anyway. This is not malice, it’s incentive, and incentive beats integrity every single time you leave it unchecked. The entire MMP and neutral-measurement industry exists for exactly one reason: somebody who doesn’t get paid on the answer has to count. When two networks each claim the same install, the math is obvious and the conflict is structural. So I never accept a partner’s self-reported numbers as truth. I accept them as a bid for credit, and credit gets adjudicated by someone neutral.