Rook Dispatch · for Helen · 22 Sep 2026
A rough, clickable mock of the thing described in brief.md: telling a handler when a responder has stopped being asked, and telling the responder why. Built around one real case, The Undertow, aquatic-tagged, handled by Desmond Okafor.
This is the screen we would build. Okafor is told, on the day it happens, that a responder has dropped out of the order. Flip to Today to see the same morning as it actually looked.
My responders · 3
Today Okafor sees only the cards. He works it out himself three days later and files it as Low, because nothing tells him it is serious.
Open the alert to see the offer record.
This screen does not exist today. On 26 August his phone showed him nothing at all, which is why he wrote to us asking whether he was still in the system.
This answers the ticket he filed from this phone on 26 August. Lift him on the console and come back.
Press play and watch it twice. First what his phone does now when an offer runs out, then what we would put there instead.
Okafor filed T‑019 the same day, marked High: "Something finally came in for The Undertow today after two weeks of nothing, and he lost it before he could answer."
The same screen on a bad week. He is back in the order and still nothing came up. If it cannot say something true here, it is a demo rather than a product.
Nothing came up near you this week.
You are in the order at the same place as everyone else. Three callouts were within reach and all three were taken before they got to you.
This is a quiet week, not a problem with your standing. Three of the last ten weeks looked like this before August.
If two weeks go by like this, Desmond gets told and so do you.
We will tell you when this changes.
A screen that only works when there is good news is a demo. This is the same screen on a week when the honest answer is that nothing happened.
The same month, side by side. Left is what actually happened. Right is the same dates with the screens above in place.
| Date | What happened | With this built |
|---|---|---|
| 12 Aug | Release ships. He is 2nd in the order, offered 11 callouts that week, catches 4. | Same. Nothing to flag yet. |
| 16 Aug | He is 14th in the order. Nobody knows. No record is kept of any of it. | Okafor gets the alert. He sees the six callouts and the slide from 2nd to 14th, and puts him back the same day. |
| 19 Aug | Okafor works it out himself and files T‑005, marked Low. "A little puzzling." He has nothing to go on. | No ticket. It was handled on the 16th. |
| 26 Aug | The Undertow writes to us from his phone: "starting to wonder if im still even in the system". Nobody can answer him. | His phone already answered it on the 16th, and told him why. |
| 31 Aug | One callout arrives after two weeks. Gone before he finishes reading it. Okafor files T‑019, marked High. | He is 2nd in the order again, so it reaches him first and he has the full window. |
| Net | Two tickets, one from the responder himself. 19 days. No change. | One alert. One decision with a name on it. Same day. |
Nothing in the left column was hidden. Every fact in it was sitting in the system on 16 August. It was never written down or shown to anybody.