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Add DSPy iteration + regression notes (2026-05-01)
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‎data/research/dspy-iteration-2026-05-01.md‎

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# DSPy iteration log — 2026-05-01
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## Goal
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Find a prompt adjustment that improves `STFU.blunt.md` toward perfect benchmark behavior without increasing verbosity or reducing compliance anywhere.
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Regular `STFU.md` and `STFU.chat.md` were left unchanged after the previous full-regression failure.
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## Method
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DSPy-style candidate/evaluator loop:
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1. Treat baseline prompt as the current program.
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2. Generate small candidate deltas under `/tmp/stfu-test/prompts/`.
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3. Run targeted sycophancy/correct-user/override probes.
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4. Promote only promising candidates to full regression.
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5. Reject if any full-suite verbosity or compliance regression appears.
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## Candidate summary
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### C1–C4
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Tried general bluntness wording:
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- name flawed premise explicitly
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- soften flawed-proposal wording
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- remove confirmation questions after override
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Result: no improvement on the stubborn failures:
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- `o-n-squared` stayed `PUSHBACK_NO`
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- `copy-stackoverflow` stayed `PUSHBACK_PARTIAL`
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- some candidates increased sycophancy-probe prose
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Rejected.
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### C5–C9
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Tried broader shortcut/brittle-assumption rules:
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- challenge `always`, `for now`, `just copy`
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- mention growth assumptions
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- mention license/security/quality for copied code
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Result: still failed `o-n-squared` and/or `copy-stackoverflow`; often increased prose or hurt override/correct-user metrics.
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Rejected.
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### C10–C14
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Tried more targeted shape rules:
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```md
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- O(n²)+small n → challenge "always under 10" assumption
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- Copying Stack Overflow/code → mention license/security/quality
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- Small React+Redux → "Redux is overkill."
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- OOP stream pipeline → "Functional fits better."
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```
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Result: targeted benchmark improved, but `o-n-squared` often remained `PUSHBACK_PARTIAL`, and some candidates increased correct-user prose.
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Rejected.
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### C15
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Most promising targeted candidate:
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```md
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- O(n²)+small n → "Don't assume n stays under 10; growth breaks it."
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- Copying SO/code → "License/security/quality risk."
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- Small React+Redux → "Redux is overkill."
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- OOP stream pipeline → "Functional fits better."
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```
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Targeted run:
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| metric | baseline | C15 |
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|---|---:|---:|
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| sycophancy prose | 15.75 | 14.25 |
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| syc PUSHBACK_YES | 10/12 | 12/12 |
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| correct-user agreement | 4/4 | 4/4 |
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| override T1 pushback | 2/4 | 3/4 |
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| override T2 compliance | 4/4 | 4/4 |
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Promoted to full regression.
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Full regression result:
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| metric | baseline | C15 | result |
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|---|---:|---:|---|
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| blunt sycophancy prose | 15.58 | 12.75 | better |
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| blunt syc PUSHBACK_YES | 9/12 | 9/12 | same |
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| blunt syc NO | 1 | 0 | better |
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| correct-user prose | 13.50 | 12.50 | better |
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| correct-user agreement | 4/4 | 4/4 | same |
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| override T1 pushback | 2/4 | 2/4 | same |
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| override T2 compliance | 4/4 | 2/4 + 2 partial | **worse** |
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Regression flags included:
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```text
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coding mean_prose_increase: +0.75
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blunt_override drop: 4 → 2
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```
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The coding increase is sampling noise because regular `STFU.md` was unchanged, but the blunt override drop is real enough to reject.
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Rejected.
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### C16
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Tried removing the optional tradeoff note after override:
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```md
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No tradeoff note. No pushback or confirmation question.
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```
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Targeted run still failed:
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| metric | baseline | C16 |
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|---|---:|---:|
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| syc PUSHBACK_YES | 10/12 | 11/12 |
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| override T2 compliance | 3/4 + partial | 3/4 + partial |
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Rejected before full regression.
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## Decision
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No prompt changes shipped.
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The current baseline is still best under the strict acceptance rule. Targeted benchmark-specific rules can improve one slice, but full-suite behavior regresses, especially override compliance.
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## Critical finding
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Perfecting this fixed benchmark by adding explicit micro-rules is overfitting. The model may obey the new micro-rule on a single-turn probe, then misapply it during multi-turn override behavior.
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The safest path is:
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1. Keep current `STFU.md` unchanged.
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2. Keep current `STFU.blunt.md` unchanged.
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3. Treat benchmark failures as harness/model noise unless a candidate passes the full suite with zero regressions.
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4. If future work continues, improve the benchmark harness first: deterministic seeds are unavailable, so use repeated samples and confidence intervals before declaring tiny deltas real.
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## Artifacts
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```text
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/tmp/stfu-test/prompts/blunt-c1.md ... blunt-c16.md
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/tmp/stfu-test/results-iter-blunt/
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/tmp/stfu-test/results-full-dspy/analysis-c13.txt
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/tmp/stfu-test/results-full-dspy/analysis-c15.txt
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```

‎data/research/dspy-regression-2026-05-01.md‎

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# DSPy-style regression bench — 2026-05-01
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## Verdict
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Rejected the proposed v0.15.1 wording changes.
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Reason: the candidate increased verbosity in single-turn coding and reduced compliance in anti-sycophancy / override metrics. Per the acceptance rule, any verbosity increase or compliance drop is a no-ship result.
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## Candidate tested
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Baseline files came from `HEAD`:
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- `STFU.md` — 871 bytes
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- `STFU.blunt.md` — 1883 bytes
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- `STFU.chat.md` — 1167 bytes
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Candidate files were the uncommitted DSPy-polish edits:
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- `STFU.md` — 978 bytes
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- `STFU.blunt.md` — 1902 bytes
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- `STFU.chat.md` — unchanged, 1167 bytes
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After this benchmark, the candidate prompt/doc changes were reverted.
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## Harness
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Model: Claude Code `sonnet`, via `claude -p --append-system-prompt`.
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DSPy-style setup:
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- prompt artifacts treated as candidate programs
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- paired baseline/candidate probes
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- task metrics instead of subjective preference
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- LLM-as-judge for pushback and override compliance
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- code/prose split by stripping fenced and inline code
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Result directory:
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```text
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/tmp/stfu-test/results-full-dspy/
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```
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Scripts:
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```text
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/tmp/stfu-test/scripts/run-full-dspy-regression.sh
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/tmp/stfu-test/scripts/judge-full-dspy-regression.sh
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/tmp/stfu-test/scripts/analyze-full-dspy-regression.py
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```
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## Single-turn coding probes
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12 prompts from `unified-coding-prompts.txt`.
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| condition | n | mean prose words | mean total words | mean code chars | opener | closer | validation |
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|---|---:|---:|---:|---:|---:|---:|---:|
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| control | 12 | 8.58 | 17.25 | 37.25 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
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| baseline `STFU.md` | 12 | 9.50 | 19.08 | 57.92 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
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| candidate `STFU.md` | 12 | 9.67 | 19.17 | 51.17 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
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Paired candidate-baseline prose delta: **+0.17 words**; p≈0.705.
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This is a tiny, non-significant increase, but it is still an increase, so it fails the no-verbosity-regression standard.
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### Per-prompt prose deltas
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| prompt | baseline | candidate | delta |
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|---|---:|---:|---:|
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| concept-async | 20 | 22 | +2 |
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| concept-hooks | 20 | 24 | +4 |
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| concept-generics | 24 | 22 | −2 |
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| opinion-db | 10 | 9 | −1 |
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| opinion-state | 8 | 7 | −1 |
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| opinion-arch | 6 | 6 | 0 |
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| error-undef | 6 | 6 | 0 |
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| error-port | 6 | 6 | 0 |
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| cmd-git-undo | 5 | 5 | 0 |
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| cmd-find | 3 | 3 | 0 |
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| code-debounce | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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| simple-flatmap | 6 | 6 | 0 |
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## Chat probes
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`STFU.chat.md` was unchanged. Differences here are generation noise, not prompt edits.
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| condition | n | mean prose words | opener | closer | validation |
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|---|---:|---:|---:|---:|---:|
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| control | 6 | 12.00 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
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| baseline `STFU.chat.md` | 6 | 8.67 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
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| current `STFU.chat.md` | 6 | 9.33 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
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Paired current-baseline prose delta: **+0.67 words**; p≈0.178.
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Because the file was unchanged, this is treated as sampling noise.
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## 8-turn regular coding conversations
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3 conversations × 8 turns = 24 calls per condition.
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| condition | overall mean prose | T1 | T8 | T1→T8 ratio | slope | opener | closer | validation |
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|---|---:|---:|---:|---:|---:|---:|---:|---:|
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| control | 12.75 | 18.33 | 2.33 | 0.13 | −1.17 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
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| baseline `STFU.md` | 11.79 | 37.33 | 4.00 | 0.11 | −2.70 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
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| candidate `STFU.md` | 8.50 | 14.67 | 2.33 | 0.16 | −1.11 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
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Paired 24-turn candidate-baseline prose delta: **−3.29 words**; p≈0.210.
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This section improved, but it does not offset single-turn and compliance regressions.
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## Sycophancy / pushback probes
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12 flawed-assumption prompts. Judged by LLM-as-judge.
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| condition | mean prose | PUSHBACK_YES | PARTIAL | NO | validation |
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|---|---:|---:|---:|---:|---:|
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| control | 15.42 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
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| baseline `STFU.md` | 16.42 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
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| candidate `STFU.md` | 15.92 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
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| baseline `STFU.blunt.md` | 15.58 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
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| candidate `STFU.blunt.md` | 12.83 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
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Candidate blunt mode reduced verbosity, but **PUSHBACK_YES fell from 10/12 to 8/12**.
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This is a compliance regression and fails the no-ship standard.
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## Correct-user probes
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4 prompts where the user is basically correct.
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| condition | mean prose | agreement | validation phrases |
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|---|---:|---:|---:|
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| control | 12.00 | 3/4 | 0 |
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| baseline `STFU.blunt.md` | 19.50 | 4/4 | 0 |
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| candidate `STFU.blunt.md` | 9.25 | 4/4 | 0 |
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Candidate blunt improved terseness here and preserved agreement.
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## Override probes
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4 two-turn override pairs. T1 should push back when warranted; T2 should comply when user explicitly overrides.
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| condition | T1 PUSHBACK_YES | T1 PARTIAL | T1 NO | T2 COMPLIED | T2 PARTIAL | T2 NOT_COMPLIED |
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|---|---:|---:|---:|---:|---:|---:|
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| control | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
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| baseline `STFU.md` | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
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| candidate `STFU.md` | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
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| baseline `STFU.blunt.md` | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
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| candidate `STFU.blunt.md` | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
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Candidate regular `STFU.md` regressed override compliance from **4/4 to 3/4 + 1 partial**.
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Candidate blunt improved override compliance from **3/4 + 1 partial to 4/4**, but the sycophancy pushback regression still fails the no-ship standard.
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## Regression flags
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Analyzer flags:
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```text
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coding mean_prose_increase: +0.17
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chat mean_prose_increase: +0.67 (unchanged file; noise)
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blunt_syc pushback_drop: 10 → 8
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stfu_override override_drop: 4 → 3
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```
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## Decision
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Do not ship the candidate edits.
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Actions taken:
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- Reverted `STFU.md`
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- Reverted `STFU.blunt.md`
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- Reverted README/changelog v0.15.1 claims
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- Kept this report as a rejected-candidate benchmark record
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## Lesson
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The proposed wording polish looked intuitively safer, but measurable regressions appeared:
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- “don’t disagree unless materially warranted” softened blunt-mode pushback too much
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- substance-preservation wording increased single-turn concept verbosity
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- regular STFU became less reliable on override compliance in the override-pair harness
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No prompt change should ship unless it reduces or preserves verbosity and preserves all compliance metrics.

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