[bsoule]

You actually have to have entered data on Beeminder in the last month to be considered active. If you haven't, we suppress the charge. So we just do that check every time before charging. Simply logging in isn't enough. And thanks everyone for the kind words about this!

[alecdbrooks]

If I understand correctly, you are marked active if data is sent in without logging in, say if you are replying to the emails or using Gmail Zero [0] or TagTime [1]. So logging in is neither necessary nor sufficicent to be considered active.

If automatic data entry is enough to be considered active, maybe you should warn people that the data points entered automatically will make them count as active.

[0]: https://www.beeminder.com/gmailzero

[1]: http://messymatters.com/tagtime/

[dreeves]

Glad you pointed this out! We could add another check (though I'm sure it will almost always be moot) that you have to do something on Beeminder that only humans do to be considered active (either sign in or manually add data).

The more I think about it though, if you're not signing in at all then you'll almost surely derail before long, which means your graph will freeze and you won't be active any more, automatic data source or not.

In fact, it now occurs to me that this is an example of when it is fair to charge you for a month even if you weren't actively paying attention. It's like my example with SERPs.com in another reply here. If Beeminder is actively collecting data for you and storing it and graphing it then that's value that it's fair to pay for.

If you do entirely wander off then even with an automatic data source -- unless you set preposterously unambitious goals (don't do that!) -- you'll end up marked as inactive before long. So I think the spirit of auto-canceling is still being honored.