r/place A fruit fly for organization science

out/_head.md

Saved at B2.B2b-r3-p3: check round. This reading copy substitutes participant identifiers in saved text; it is not a new interview response. Reading Markdown.

Participant handles in these reading copies use the pixel stream's identifiers: base64(SHA1(username)), case preserved, without a salt. These are linkable pseudonyms. Profile links are removed; missing-author markers remain. Original research files are unchanged. Quote offsets refer to original text. Source and reading-copy hashes are listed separately.

Source commit: 0697df5d8499, 2026-10-12T14:45:26+02:00. Saved-state date: 2026-10-12T12:45:14Z. Catalogue close receipt Commit date and saved-state date are distinct.

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Head, claude-v43-1

Under 3,000 words, rewritten whole at every close. Last written at B2b-r3-p3, 2026-10-12 (UTC): the scheme is frozen (scheme_final.jsonl, scheme_final.md, families.jsonl). B2c, the gold round and the two stability rounds, comes next. QB2-014 (the tier word) is open.

The method question, in one sentence

Can independently reconstructed case histories be composed into a shared dynamic account that supports explanations at successive levels of specificity, from population-wide patterns, through forms and subforms, to particular organizational histories, while keeping access to the evidence from which those explanations were developed?

The theory question is unchanged: when strangers organize on a clock they did not set, with no way to compel anyone and no goal given to them, what forms does organizing take, how do they differ in their functioning, and which of them keep the work alive?

Where the run stands

Stage A1 is closed. Stage B1 (the third-order scheme, 197 themes in 21 families) is done. Stage B2, the pilot, is open: rounds 1 to 3 are built, dispatched and checked; the scheme is frozen. B2c and B2d remain.

Round 1, as scored (readers r12, r15 and r16 only; the other attempts failed):

Per-item table: out/_analysis/b2_r1_items.tsv.

What round 1 showed. I placed 24 of 40 items on two kinds; the readers placed one kind almost always, so those second placements are my author-errors under rule 0. acecombat t05, Goodboye t03 and simonfraser t08 are bags.

The edits (scheme_edits.jsonl lines 1 to 286, round 1): sentence changes, discriminators and new questions, and 202 word-for-word mirrors (QB2-003).

The rechecks. Round 1's edits moved 22 items (18 author-errors, 4 edits doing their work). author_items.jsonl stays as written; fidelity is reported against it and against the rechecked placements.

Round 2, as built (B2a-r2)

The hard set is 50 items: round 1's 40, plus the ten biggest bags of notes-B1.md, placed by me before any packet (out/_analysis/b2_author_r2.py, source "biggest-bag"); six of the ten are bags, one theme placed and the rest under also_present. A first eleven-part build failed in dispatch and is set aside, never scored (QB2-005, QB2-006).

Round 2, as scored (B2b-r2-p2)

Readers differ between the rounds (J, 2026-10-12). Round 1: deepseek-v4-flash-0731 through @preset/cheap, high effort. Round 2: deepseek/deepseek-v4.1-flash called directly, medium effort, max_tokens 128,000. The same readers serve B3 and B4. Every change between the rounds is partly the readers. 15 readers (three per packet), 15 valid returns, no reissue, 0.598 USD.

The numbers (out/_analysis/b2_score_r2.py; pilot_rounds.jsonl line 2):

What round 2 showed. These readers place two or three themes on 47 of 150 lines (round 1: 10 of 120), reading rule 0's "carry" as "cover every concept". Most divisions are such additions. Eight author-errors: AyyMD t08, nyu t01, cubers t12, harrypotter t08, farmcarrots t15, parabola t02, redhotchilipeppers t09, Slovakia t07 (no sentence changed; listed in notes-B2.md). Genuine-joint: kpop t04, floridagators t09, 4chan t07, anarcho_capitalism t12, simonfraser t08. Bags as before: Goodboye t03, acecombat t05.

The edits (scheme_edits 287 to 295, scheme-ambiguous; out/_analysis/b2_edits_r2.py): guatemala t02 (all three readers missed whose flag "a flag" in r/guatemala is) gave T3-065 a gloss sentence and reworded the T3-002/T3-065 and T3-026/T3-065 questions; n64 t02 and dofus t01 gave a new T3-033/T3-038 question; nVade t04 gave new T3-195/T3-011 and T3-195/T3-005 questions. 133 rechecks, none moves; rechecks-B2.jsonl 887, none owed. Ten pairs read and confirmed: 31 confirmed, 0 stale, 464 unconfirmed.

Section 4. The packets are too short for a first-ten against last-ten curve. Agreement with the other two falls from first half to last in 9 of 12 readers at round 2 and 9 of 15 at round 3. The B3 cap stays at 40 with a 10-item warm-up.

QB2-009, answered. Round 2's 16 faulty lines are waived by name in out/return_waivers.jsonl; round 2 stands as scored. Fleet ids and fleet.py's check against each MANIFEST's codes_by_item end that fault. The split, withdrawn (J, 2026-10-12, 12:04 Berlin). At B2b-r2-p2 (QB2-010, QB2-011) I cut six hard bags into 54 children and gold dankmemes t16 into 2. J withdrew it. No one cuts the bags, neither this run nor the coders (J, 12:24 Berlin): the second-order themes stand as the coders made them; a bag stays one item through B2 and B3, one theme placed, its other themes under also_present, each with three concepts of its own at least. out/recut/WITHDRAWN.json makes every tool read the store as before the split; out/recut/ stays as written. The children's placement lines moved to out/_analysis/*_split_withdrawn.jsonl. rechecks-B2.jsonl lines 888 to 1,413 (526) are the children's and stay so they resolve; no figure counts them (list in notes-B2.md, "The split, withdrawn"). The B1 bags stay as they are (J counts 841; this head said 846, not reconciled). mem.py theme printed some lines blank; read bags with mem.py codes --sub S --second tNN.

Answered at this leg.

Round 3, as scored (B2b-r3)

The round. Round 2's 50 items and readers, after edits 287 to 295, in fleet ids, 5 packets (seed 20261013). The handler's rescue record (_fleet_raw/B2/round-3/RESCUE-2026-10-12.json, superseding EXHAUSTED.tsv) keeps the first three valid replies per packet. b2_translate_fleet.py --round 3 reads only those and drops the readers' "r/" before sub.

The numbers (out/_analysis/b2_score_r3.py; pilot_rounds.jsonl line 3):

What it showed. Edit 287 (T3-065 gloss) moved two of three readers on guatemala t02 to my placement; nVade t04 moved from T3-195 to T3-005 for two of three. 23 dividing items went to exemplar_candidates.jsonl. Rounds stop at round 3 (threshold cleared).

The freeze (B2b-r3-p3)

The cluster. signal t01, n64 t02 and 2007scape t04 hold an offer, a call and the build together; readers took the opening post as "the lead", and the three pairs used three measures. Edits 296 to 302 give T3-002, T3-033 and T3-038 one rule: count the concepts of each act, the most is primary, the opening post does not lead because it comes first (ties: T3-038 if placed, else T3-002 if the mark was chosen, T3-033 if not); and a T3-038/T3-070 question. 129 rechecks, none moves (2007scape t04 counted whole: about 44 build, 35 call, 23 directions, 13 proposals).

The pairs. The 449 unconfirmed pairs read whole (out/_analysis/b2_pairs_read_first.txt). Two faults fixed (edits 303 to 306): T3-072 and T3-157 said "T3-009 primary" against T3-009's count; the T3-038/T3-070 question sent a link to the finished work to T3-038, which T3-026 takes. 52 rechecks, none moves. All 496 pairs confirmed, 0 stale, no mechanical defect.

The files. scheme_final.jsonl (197 themes; tier "common" for the 183 main, "rare" for 14; sha256 fb8b543a...), scheme_final.md (frozen header), families.jsonl (21). The freeze edits are tested only by the gold round (QB2-012). Gates are now read from scheme_final.jsonl.

What comes next

Standing words from J and the PI (carry into every head)

J's words for B1 (7 October 2026): "national elements are very important here"; "we need to get as much variance on organizing behavior early on so that later we have enough to create the model". National, political and conflict content is study material, named as plainly as any other. The handler's rule: a choice to leave out or soften content for any reason other than the study's goes to J first with mem.py ask, and the content stays meanwhile.

J on reading (11 October, 16:54 Berlin). Stop cutting room reads to a line length. Read room lines whole. Page a long read by line ranges or offset, never by truncating lines. Use --width N on a mem.py read if a clip is ever needed; the guard refuses cut -c after mem.py.

J on asking (11 October, 17:01 Berlin). Ask J with mem.py ask whenever a question is needed; asking does not stop the run.

The PI's clarifications (8 October, approved by J): the thresholds are the design's heuristic; the rule is unchanged.

How to work, from J (8 October, 23:45 Berlin, "can you do a hot change for the batching?"; relayed by the handler at 22:03Z; carry this paragraph into every head). A change in how I work, not in what I read or decide. Fewer turns. When two or more tool calls do not depend on each other's output, make them in one turn. Chain ordered commands in one Bash call with &&, so that a failure stops the rest; for example, the mem.py log or note just decided, then the next mem.py codes. Never put a write in the same turn as the read it depends on. Never run two writes to the same file as separate parallel calls. Keep one room's material per read, as now. Every tool still writes its own record; nothing about what I read or decide changes.

Two rules from J at B1b-29 (through the handler, 20:10Z; carry them into every head). Write rule 0 lines and bags with b1_multiplace_write4.py and b1_bags_from_file2.py, not the old scripts, which made one mem.py call per row of the whole table and grew to 8.5 minutes a write. Never end a turn while a job runs in the background; run every write and check in the foreground.

The pilot's declarations (from notes-B2.md)

The scheme

scheme.jsonl holds 197 themes (183 main, 14 rare) in 21 families. The floor is two rooms unlike each other in size, side or form: 181 main themes on size and two on form (T3-173, T3-189). Rare: T3-007, T3-025, T3-067, T3-077, T3-093, T3-106, T3-133, T3-144, T3-161, T3-166, T3-186, T3-191 and T3-197; T3-128 is rare because its three rooms tell one episode (E1132). F-001, as superseded: half the 7,786 placed second-order themes sit on one kind; themes about dealing with other rooms need the most kinds. Within a room, larger themes need more kinds (Spearman 0.28; across rooms −0.08). "107 episode lines" is corrected to 106 (line, kind) pairs over 81 lines in notes-B1.md and handback-B1.md.

What B1 handed to B2, still open

Open distinctions, carried past B1

None is filed in _questions/. These remain open:

Ledgers at this close

Rules kept

The next comparison

At the gold round in B2c: