Another point.
Imagine that we would make a mathematical model of you system. Acceptance by the leaders of the previous generations, their peers, and subsequent generations, would have impact to calculating how mainstream they are. We would see that many names would fluctuate wildly over a short hundred years. So the system doesn’t really mean much.
It can be used as a handy rule of thumb. But not much more.
One quick example. Maybe nobody was more accepted as within the pale than Rav Meshulam Igra in his day. But the frictions led to him being left without a clear following already in his lifetime. He soon became all but forgotten. Did you ever try his sefer? Impossible! I don’t know anyone who learns it. And I’ve seen it of the shelf at most five times.