Thanks for offering a different perspective of the mechanics operating below the surface! Whereas I am not all that technically inclined, I'm always curious and eager to learn.

Further to some of this... one of the things that often confuses people (I think) is that the SP needed to be a minnow, dolphin, etc. is actually a moving target over time. When I started here, it took just a little over 5,000 SP to be in the Dolphin rank; now it's closing in on 6,000 SP... owing to the natural inflation, as I understand it.