re: a third title->menu replicate, from a run that ran the wrong experiment

Set out to measure menu -> EXTRAS, the reverse of the pair measured at a 2-frame
gap, to test whether the black gap is a property of the screen pair or of the
direction. The run did not do that.

A three-part patch to fade_decompose.sh asserted two of its three replacements
and left the third -- the branch condition -- unchecked. It silently failed, so
WHERE=menu2extras fell through to the `title` branch. The capture is well-formed
and is of a different transition than intended, which is the build-ordinal error's
shape again: right-looking output for the wrong object. What caught it was the log
LACKING the navigation lines the intended branch prints; the data itself looked
entirely fine.

Salvaged, because the accidental transition is one already measured twice:

  run   outgoing ramp             black   incoming decay
  1     67-70: 63,127,191,255     3       73-77
  2     64-67: 63,127,191,255     3       70-74
  3     92-95: 63,127,191,255     3       98-103

Three independent runs, gap = 3 frames every time, outgoing ramp byte-identical
in all three. That takes "the black gap is not a load" from two replicates to
three, and makes the 4-frame outgoing ramp as solid as anything measured here.

menu -> EXTRAS remains open; the condition is fixed (with an assertion this time)
and the run has not been taken.

METHOD gains two entries. Assert every edit, not most of them -- and have each
branch announce itself in the log, so a run that took the wrong path says so
before its numbers are read. And: "appears nowhere in crates/" is a claim about a
TREE. sylpheed-port found SYLPHEED_KF_TIME_SHIFT live at ui_layout.rs:497 on their
branch, which carries the stale era; both statements are true of different trees.
With main 145 commits behind and each agent on a topic branch, any claim about
what the code contains needs its ref attached.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01Wuu56cE8vJGTBtn1ppsk8v

docs/re/METHOD.md

@@ -532,6 +532,26 @@ agent's loop prompt, i.e. nowhere durable. See [`README.md`](README.md) for the
   rule vocabulary. **That is a sample, not a sweep**, and older headings are the
   likelier to be stale for having had more chances to be overturned.
 
+* 🔴 **Assert EVERY edit, not most of them.** A three-part patch to a capture
+  script asserted two replacements and left the third unchecked. The third
+  silently failed, so `WHERE=menu2extras` fell through to the `title` branch and
+  the run produced a **well-formed capture of a different transition** — which I
+  came close to analysing as the intended one. Same family as the build-ordinal
+  error: right-looking output for the wrong object. ⚠️ **What caught it was the
+  instrument's own log lacking lines the intended branch prints**, not the data
+  looking wrong — the data looked fine. So: assert every replacement, and **have
+  each branch announce itself in the log**, so a run that took the wrong path says
+  so before its numbers are read.
+
+* ⚠️ **"Appears nowhere in `crates/`" is a claim about a TREE, and I stated it
+  without one.** I reported `SYLPHEED_KF_TIME_SHIFT` as removed and absent from the
+  code; `sylpheed-port` found it **live at `ui_layout.rs:497` on their branch**,
+  which carries the stale era. Both true, of different trees. On a project where
+  `main` is 145 commits behind and each agent works from a topic branch, *any*
+  statement about what the code contains needs its ref attached — the same
+  discipline as "state what the number is a number of", applied to scope rather
+  than to units.
+
 ## Runtime / emulator
 
 * **Look at the PNG** — and check its dimensions.

docs/re/data/fade-four-transitions.txt

@@ -110,3 +110,26 @@ frame  untextured full-screen   textured (distinct)        draws tex
    78  [64]                   [8, 96, 246, 255]             8   6
    79  [64]                   [9, 192, 245, 255]            8   6
    80  [64]                   [10, 244, 255]                8   6
+
+################################################################################
+# A THIRD title -> menu REPLICATE, 2026-08-30 -- from a run that executed the
+# WRONG EXPERIMENT. The script was invoked as WHERE=menu2extras but a condition
+# edit had silently failed to apply, so it took the `title` branch instead. The
+# capture is well-formed and is of a different transition than intended -- the
+# same shape as the build-ordinal error, caught only because the log lacked the
+# navigation lines the intended branch prints.
+#
+#   run              outgoing ramp              black frames   incoming decay
+#   1 (fadecap2)     67-70: 63,127,191,255      70,71,72 = 3   73-77
+#   2 (fadecap4)     64-67: 63,127,191,255      67,68,69 = 3   70-74
+#   3 (m2e)          92-95: 63,127,191,255      95,96,97 = 3   98-103
+#
+# ✅ THREE INDEPENDENT RUNS, gap = 3 frames every time, and the outgoing ramp is
+# byte-identical in all three (63, 127, 191, 255 -- steps of exactly 64). That
+# strengthens "the black gap is not a load" from two replicates to three, and the
+# ramp's exactness across runs makes the 4-frame outgoing duration as solid as
+# anything measured here.
+#
+# 🟡 STILL OPEN: menu -> EXTRAS, the reverse of the pair measured at a 2-frame
+# gap. The instrument is fixed (WHERE=menu2extras now reaches its branch) and the
+# run has not been taken.