The formula
CPS = clicks counted in the window ÷ duration in seconds. A 5-second trial with 34 clicks is 6.80 CPS. Hotplug uses the full window even if you slow down at the end. That is the point of a fixed interval.
Why three durations
One second is a twitch. It rewards a clean burst and punishes a missed first click. Five seconds is the usual screenshot number. Ten seconds is a stamina check — debounce, grip, and finger heat show up. If your 1s is heroic and your 10s collapses, you do not have a sustainable rate; you have a trick.
Technique versus the switch
Standard clicking, jitter, butterfly, and drag-clicking are different sports. Cheap membrane pads will not drag. A light optical switch might double on a slam. The webpage cannot see debounce internals; it sees mousedown events the browser delivers. If you are debugging a mouse, also run the mouse test and watch whether buttons stick.
What “good” means
Untrained clicking often sits around 4–7 CPS on a 5-second window. Double digits usually imply a method. There is no moral overlay. For work, a reliable single click matters more than a CPS screenshot.
Local bests
Hotplug writes one number per duration into localStorage. Clear site data and it is gone. There is no global board, which keeps the incentive to cheat at zero.