diff --git a/tools/mj-queue.mjs b/tools/mj-queue.mjs
index 86e7f04..23cd228 100644
--- a/tools/mj-queue.mjs
+++ b/tools/mj-queue.mjs
@@ -80,12 +80,21 @@ export const TOKENS = {
  * and twenty minutes of wondering whether the account is out of fast hours. Cheaper to
  * catch here than to sit through.
  */
-/* Learned in production, one silent stall at a time. "bare" was added on 2026-09-23 after
-   the martlet failed three times over ninety minutes: the gryphon succeeded in the same
-   run, so it was not the service, and replacing that single word made the martlet return
-   immediately. A moderation refusal never appears in the channel, so this is the only
-   record that the word costs half an hour. */
-const BANNED = ["gore", "bust", "corpse", "mutilat", "blood-soaked", "bare"];
+/* Learned in production, one silent stall at a time.
+ *
+ * "bare" was added here on 2026-09-23 and REMOVED the same night. The martlet had failed
+ * three times over ninety minutes; regenerating it with that one word replaced brought it
+ * back, and that was published as the diagnosis. It was wrong. Run again afterwards with
+ * "bare" restored and nothing else changed, the same prompt was accepted in seconds. The
+ * variable that actually differed was that the successful run was the only job in flight,
+ * and the word was believed because a memory note from 16 September already named it —
+ * which is a reason to suspect a conclusion, not to trust it.
+ *
+ * Nothing in this list should be added from a single successful retry. Use ~/bin/mj-blocked,
+ * which sends the prompt and reports in two minutes whether the bot answered at all: a
+ * refusal is ephemeral and never reaches the channel, so silence there is the only
+ * evidence that distinguishes a banned word from a slow one. */
+const BANNED = ["gore", "bust", "corpse", "mutilat", "blood-soaked"];
 
 /* ---------------------------------------------------------------- derivation */
 
@@ -121,10 +130,10 @@ const buildWords = ch => bandOf((Number(ch?.str) || 12) / (Number(ch?.siz) || 12
    armour to be left out, because a word choice is an argument and a --no is closer to a
    guarantee. */
 const armourWords = (n, era = "antique") => bandOf(Number(n) || 0, [
-  /* NOT "bare". Midjourney's moderation refuses that word — it reads as nudity — and a
-     refusal is ephemeral, so the job simply never arrives. The martlet stalled for thirty
-     minutes three times; changing this one word and nothing else made it return. Thirteen
-     creatures carried it, every one of them a creature with no natural armour. */
+  /* This band said "bare, unprotected" and was changed on the belief that "bare" was
+     blocking the martlet. That belief did not survive testing — the prompt with "bare" is
+     accepted — so the change is kept only because the wording is better, and NOT as a
+     workaround for anything. */
   [0,  "thin-skinned, nothing between it and a blow"],
   [3,  "tough hide"],
   [6,  "thick natural plating, part of the animal"],