well... geography claims this as a phenomenon, but you'd find it in anthropology or marketing, etc. it applies to diffusion theory -- in this case, "contagious diffusion" when an idea or innovation is adopted in a defined region. here, the "innovation" is a marked banknote. in diffusion theory, an acceptable idea will spread, like a disease, through a population. initially, the spread will be very slow, or localized. it then will expand almost exponentially.... become a linear growth and then grow at a slower rate until a saturation, or if you will, a 'carrying capacity" is reached. i tend to think that this, with money tracking, is when everyone who would be interested or curious enough to enter a note to "see where it's been", has done so.

i am not sure about YOUR experience, but i have found, especially in the past couple of years, that most of my hits are from farther afield -- outside of saskatchewan and so i think that this province is primarily saturated -- nearly everyone has SEEN a stamped note, and if they were inclined to enter or even begin tracking, they have already done so. outside of saskatchewan, where there are larger populations and where not everyone has seen notes from THIS site, may still "adopt" this innovation and so THAT is where the potential for growth still exists.

i tend to believe that the data from the site conforms to this theory. if you look at monthly hits you will see evidence of the pattern -- especially in the earlier stages, where the postulated sigmoidal curve is well represented. the pattern of diminishing "carrying capacity" is worthy of study as well. i have long postulated that it is, at least, partially a result of some users' practice of "flooding the market" in the past which might result in almost a backlash rather than an encouragement to track. another possible factor is the apparent diminishment of the use of currency, although i suspect that that is not as much of concern.