# Why slop detectors decay, and what we do about it

> A fixed visual fingerprint degrades as generators suppress the default look. The durable signal is per-site, not global.

A signature-style detector that enumerates today's visual tells
degrades over time. The generators that produce the slop are actively engineered
to suppress the default look, and design standards push per-brand constraints
into them. The exact fonts and gradients we flag today will not be the tells a
year from now.

## The absolute score is the hook, not the moat

A loud, free "how AI-generated does this look?" grader gets attention while the
meme is hot. But the rule list is copyable in an afternoon, and the fashion it
tracks will move. So the absolute score is acquisition, not a durable product.

## The durable signal is per-site

The question that does not decay is relative: does this page honor its own
declared design system? Point a scan at a site's DESIGN.md, the open token spec
for colors, typography, radii, and components, and the scan reports drift: fonts
in use that were never declared, CTA colors off the palette, radii off the scale.
A bespoke site checked against its own tokens can never false-positive as slop,
and the reference point is the customer's own system, not a global fashion that
ages.

## What this means for you

Use the free slop score to catch the obvious generated look. Use the system axis
to keep a real design system honest as non-designers and coding agents keep
shipping to it. One is the hook, the other is the thing worth monitoring.