# Cred: not a token

**URL:** <https://discourse.sourcecred.io/t/cred-not-a-token/465>\
**Category:** Getting Started\
**Created:** [December 25, 2019, 8:48pm UTC](https://discourse.sourcecred.io/t/cred-not-a-token/465 "2019-12-25T20:48:57Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![burrrata](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex032/user_avatar/discourse.sourcecred.io/burrrata/32/135_2.png) [@burrrata](https://discourse.sourcecred.io/u/burrrata)\
**Post date:** [December 25, 2019, 8:48pm UTC](https://discourse.sourcecred.io/t/cred-not-a-token/465/1 "2019-12-25T20:48:57Z")

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**Author:** ![burrrata](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex032/user_avatar/discourse.sourcecred.io/burrrata/32/135_2.png) [@burrrata](https://discourse.sourcecred.io/u/burrrata)\
**Post date:** [December 27, 2019, 10:00pm UTC](https://discourse.sourcecred.io/t/cred-not-a-token/465/2 "2019-12-27T22:00:57Z")

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> [@A Gentle Introduction to Cred](https://discourse.sourcecred.io/t/a-gentle-introduction-to-cred/20):
>
> SourceCred, as the name might suggest, is all about attributing cred. Cred is a metric that describes every contribution and contributor in a project, giving a sense of how important they were. For example, forum posts (like this one) can earn cred. If this post earns 5 cred, and another post earns 10 cred, then that other post is considered twice as important as this one. (Note: SourceCred doesn’t load posts from this forum yet.) The contributions are arranged in a [graph](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graph_(discrete_mathematics)), where contributions …

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**Author:** ![burrrata](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex032/user_avatar/discourse.sourcecred.io/burrrata/32/135_2.png) [@burrrata](https://discourse.sourcecred.io/u/burrrata)\
**Post date:** [December 27, 2019, 10:36pm UTC](https://discourse.sourcecred.io/t/cred-not-a-token/465/3 "2019-12-27T22:36:57Z")

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> [@SourceCred Protocol](https://discourse.sourcecred.io/t/cred/500/2):
>
> To Do Figure out what qualifies as a reference and what actually contributed to the design and development of “Cred.” Update the description. Create a [Cred overview](https://discourse.sourcecred.io/t/cred-not-a-token/465) post. Thinking about this more, and “Cred” is really hard to separate from “SourceCred.” This is because Cred is a force of the system, so really it’s a part of the system. Cred can’t exist on it’s own without the SourceCred protocol, and the SourceCred protocol couldn’t exist if it didn’t measure contributions via Cred. I would…

> First figure out if there’s a distinction between “Cred” and “SourceCred,” and if so, what is it?