The night-watch scale
How grades work
A BarkMarks grade is a weather report for the living room: how packed the bark bait is, and how many neighbors said the dog was fine — not whether the movie is any good.
Two signals
Bark marks
Timestamped reactions — intensity and category. These are the risk signal. They pull the grade toward Full Bark.
Quiet watches
One endorsement per signed-in neighbor per title: “we watched this and the dog didn't react.” No timestamps. These pull the grade toward Quiet.
No marks and no quiet watches means not graded yet— we won't call that Quiet. Quiet is earned: either calm endorsements, or bark marks so sparse and light that the living room still looks peaceful.
The five grades
- Quiet
A calm night in.
Mostly peaceful. Maybe a tail twitch.
- Wiggle
Treats nearby, just in case.
A few triggers. Expect some pacing.
- Alert
Good night for a hallway patrol.
Regular bark bait. Plan a break.
- Howl
Walk first, then press play.
Dense triggers. The living room will notice.
- Full Bark
Or just put on a nature documentary instead.
A concert of chaos. Headphones for the dog, maybe.
How the score is built
Every bark mark has a weight based on how likely it is to set a dog off. We add those weights up, then divide by the title's runtime in hours plus one hour for each quiet watch (each calm endorsement is one extra hour of peaceful evidence). A seven-minute Bluey isn't scored like a two-and-a-half-hour Dune.
- Only quiet watches → Quiet, the safest grade.
- Only bark marks → the same density-and-severity scale we've always used, including Full Bark when the bait is packed.
- A mix → in between. More quiet watches relative to bark weight improve the grade; a stack of heavy marks still outweighs a couple of calm nights.
Think density plus severity, diluted by confirmed calm watches. The cutoffs are a working scale, not a scientific guarantee that your particular hound will (or won't) lose it.
Trigger categories
Heavier categories — especially barking on the soundtrack and doorbells / knocks — pull the grade up faster than a generic startle.
Animals on screen
A solid nudge when these stack up.
Doorbell / knock
Heavier — pulls the grade up faster.
Barking audio
Heavier — pulls the grade up faster.
Sirens
A solid nudge when these stack up.
Kids in distress
Lighter — still counts toward density.
Other
Lighter — still counts toward density.
Grade vs timestamps
The grade is the overview: should you press play, walk first, or pick something quieter? Marks are the radar — the HH:MM:SS ranges that tell you when to mute, pause, or step into the hallway. Quiet watches are the all-clear: someone sat through it and the dog stayed settled.
Use the grade to pick the night. Use the timestamps to get through it.
Help mark the accurate ones
On each mark you can tap Accurate or Not accurate. Votes stay on this device for now. Later they'll help surface timestamps the neighborhood trusts — we won't auto-hide anything until that's actually wired up.