diff --git a/actions/issueflow-reconcile/issueflow-reconcile.sh b/actions/issueflow-reconcile/issueflow-reconcile.sh
index 1c15f8b..40292b8 100644
--- a/actions/issueflow-reconcile/issueflow-reconcile.sh
+++ b/actions/issueflow-reconcile/issueflow-reconcile.sh
@@ -491,7 +491,11 @@ offsite_timeline() { # unreadable timelines are deliberately silent
   gh api --paginate "repos/$REPO/issues/$1/timeline" 2>/dev/null || return 1
 }
 
-last_issue_activity() { # $1 issue, $2 created_at → epoch; non-zero if a read failed
+issue_activity_at() { # $1 issue, $2 created_at, $3 with-assignment|comments-only
+  # One body, two clocks over it — a second activity computation is the drift
+  # the reuse exists to prevent, and the two callers below are the whole
+  # difference between them.
+  #
   # Both reads are checked, and a failure reports rather than answering an age
   # (#247 D1). Swallowed, the comments read falls back to `created_at`, and a
   # `claimed` issue created months ago but commented on seconds earlier is
@@ -499,19 +503,42 @@ last_issue_activity() { # $1 issue, $2 created_at → epoch; non-zero if a read
   # hours of silence. `needs-triage` is cheap to remove; that is not.
   # gh's stderr is left to flow to this function's own, where the caller's
   # guarded_read captures it for the reason line.
-  local n="$1" created="$2" comments timeline latest
+  local n="$1" created="$2" mode="$3" comments timeline="" latest
   comments="$(gh api --paginate "repos/$REPO/issues/$n/comments" --jq '.[].created_at')" \
     || return 1
-  # Assignment is the claim itself. Ignoring it would let an old issue be
-  # reclaimed in the seconds between assignment and its required draft PR.
-  timeline="$(gh api --paginate "repos/$REPO/issues/$n/timeline" \
-    --jq '.[] | select(.event == "assigned") | .created_at')" || return 1
+  if [ "$mode" = with-assignment ]; then
+    timeline="$(gh api --paginate "repos/$REPO/issues/$n/timeline" \
+      --jq '.[] | select(.event == "assigned") | .created_at')" || return 1
+  fi
   latest="$(printf '%s\n%s\n%s\n' "$created" "$comments" "$timeline" | sort | tail -n1)"
   date -d "$latest" +%s
 }
 
+last_issue_activity() { # $1 issue, $2 created_at → epoch; non-zero if a read failed
+  # The claim clock, and the ruling clock with it. Assignment is the claim
+  # itself. Ignoring it would let an old issue be reclaimed in the seconds
+  # between assignment and its required draft PR.
+  issue_activity_at "$1" "$2" with-assignment
+}
+
+last_issue_comment_activity() { # $1 issue, $2 created_at → epoch; non-zero on a failed read
+  # The evidence nudge's clock (#254). Same computation, one input fewer, and
+  # the input it drops is the one that would starve the criterion: on
+  # `post-merge` there is no claim for an assignment to protect, and an
+  # assignee there is the invalid composition the `post-merge-assigned` flag
+  # reports. Counting it would let a broken board buy the item another 7 days
+  # of silence — the failure direction of #254 taken backwards.
+  #
+  # A comment the sweep itself wrote is still activity here, deliberately:
+  # the nudge carries no marker, so its own comment is what rate-limits it,
+  # and no machine comment can be exempted without exempting that one too.
+  # Reading authorship back into the clock would mean a body read this issue
+  # forbids.
+  issue_activity_at "$1" "$2" comments-only
+}
+
 reconcile_issue() {
-  local n="$1" decision refs cross_refs states age created assignees open_pr=false label owners
+  local n="$1" decision refs cross_refs states age evidence_age created assignees open_pr=false label owners
   local merged_ref_pr="" transition_marker="" transition_handled=false parsed_set="" parse_marker=""
   local unchecked="" remove_claimed=claimed
   local attention_active=true attention_suppression=""
@@ -611,9 +638,26 @@ The merge releases the claim; no builder owes a draft. Triage owes completion in
     # would let the assigned-flag comment silence the nudge for another 7
     # days — the same self-silencing the ruling nudge avoids by reading its
     # facts once, at the top of the pass.
+    #
+    # Its own variable, not `age`: the ruling block below reuses `age` when
+    # it is already set, and the evidence clock is deliberately narrower than
+    # the ruling clock. Leaking it there would silently change what a ruling
+    # nudge means depending on which queue label the issue sits under.
     created="$(jq -r '.created_at' <<<"$ISSUE_JSON")"
-    guarded_read age last_issue_activity "$n" "$created" \
+    guarded_read evidence_age last_issue_comment_activity "$n" "$created" \
       || skip_issue "$n" "could not read its activity history: $(read_failure_reason "$READ_FAILURE_STDERR")"
+    # The ruling clock is read HERE, not in the ruling block, for the same
+    # reason the evidence clock is: that block reads only when `age` is
+    # unset, and by the time it runs this branch may have posted the
+    # evidence nudge — so its read would date the issue by this sweep's own
+    # comment and silence the ruling nudge. Both waits are answered from
+    # facts that predate anything this pass writes. The cost is one extra
+    # comments read on `post-merge` + `needs-ruling`, and only there: an
+    # ordinary `post-merge` issue reads once.
+    if has_issue_label needs-ruling; then
+      guarded_read age last_issue_activity "$n" "$created" \
+        || skip_issue "$n" "could not read its activity history: $(read_failure_reason "$READ_FAILURE_STDERR")"
+    fi
     if [ "$assignees" -gt 0 ] || has_issue_label attention; then
       ensure_comment "$n" post-merge-assigned \
         'This `post-merge` issue has an assignee or `attention`. The sweep will not undo hand-set intent; triage must clear the invalid composition or move the issue back into buildable queue state.'
@@ -636,8 +680,8 @@ The merge releases the claim; no builder owes a draft. Triage owes completion in
     # mandatory config — `load_issueflow_config` refuses to run without it —
     # so there is nothing to fall back to, and a silent fallback is exactly
     # how the wrong addressee comes back.
-    if [ "$(ruling_nudge_decision "$NOW" "$age")" = NUDGE ]; then
-      local quiet_days=$(((NOW - age) / 86400))
+    if [ "$(ruling_nudge_decision "$NOW" "$evidence_age")" = NUDGE ]; then
+      local quiet_days=$(((NOW - evidence_age) / 86400))
       run gh issue comment "$n" -R "$REPO" --body "@${TRIAGE_ACTORS[0]} — this \`post-merge\` item has had no activity for ${quiet_days} days: https://github.com/$REPO/issues/$n
 
 Its wake evidence is still owed. \`post-merge\` means the merge landed and
diff --git a/test/issueflow-reconcile.test.sh b/test/issueflow-reconcile.test.sh
index eec84b1..7c9fde9 100644
--- a/test/issueflow-reconcile.test.sh
+++ b/test/issueflow-reconcile.test.sh
@@ -637,6 +637,14 @@ check "...only the evidence nudge speaks" 0 "1" \
   grep -c -- '^----$' "$TMP/posted-36"
 
 printf '[]\n' >"$(cfix 37)"
+# The live shape of an assigned `post-merge` issue: the assignee in the issue
+# payload AND the `assigned` event that put it there in the timeline. With an
+# empty timeline this fixture could not see the defect it exists to guard —
+# the evidence clock counting that hour-old assignment as activity and
+# silencing the nudge for another 7 days, on the one board state where an
+# assignee is itself the bug being reported.
+jq -n --arg at "$(iso_at $((INOW - 3600)))" \
+  '[{"event":"assigned","created_at":$at}]' >"$(tfix 37)"
 issue_probe 37 post-merge 1 >/dev/null
 check "assigned post-merge is flagged" 0 "" \
   grep -qF '<!-- issueflow:post-merge-assigned -->' "$TMP/posted-37"
@@ -711,6 +719,40 @@ fresh="$(issue_probe 83 post-merge 0)"
 check "an hour-old comment does reset it" 1 "" \
   grep -q 'post-merge evidence nudge' <<<"$fresh"
 
+# Neither is an assignment. That event is the *claim* clock's activity fact —
+# 48 hours of silence must not include the seconds between a claim and its
+# required draft PR — and `post-merge` has no claim for it to protect: an
+# assignee here is the invalid composition the flag above reports. Counting
+# it would let a broken board buy the item another 7 days of quiet, which is
+# this issue's failure direction taken backwards. No current assignee on this
+# probe, so nothing stands between the clock rule and the nudge.
+quiet_comment 93 $((8 * 86400))
+jq -n --arg at "$(iso_at $((INOW - 3600)))" \
+  '[{"event":"assigned","created_at":$at},{"event":"unassigned","created_at":$at}]' >"$(tfix 93)"
+assigned_clock="$(issue_probe 93 post-merge 0)"
+check "an hour-old assignment does not reset the evidence clock either" 0 "" \
+  grep -q 'post-merge evidence nudge' <<<"$assigned_clock"
+
+# The two clocks over the one computation, asserted directly rather than
+# through a probe: same fixture, one input's difference, and the reclaim
+# clock is pinned unmoved by the split.
+jq -n --arg at "$(iso_at $((INOW - 5 * 86400)))" \
+  '[{"user":{"login":"triage-one"},"created_at":$at,"html_url":"https://x/c95","body":"evidence pending"}]' \
+  >"$(cfix 95)"
+jq -n --arg at "$(iso_at $((INOW - 3600)))" \
+  '[{"event":"assigned","created_at":$at}]' >"$(tfix 95)"
+two_clocks="$( (REPO=owner/repo; gh() { issue_stub_gh "$@"; }
+  printf '%s %s\n' \
+    "$(last_issue_activity 95 "$(iso_at $((INOW - 10 * 86400)))")" \
+    "$(last_issue_comment_activity 95 "$(iso_at $((INOW - 10 * 86400)))")") )"
+check "the claim clock counts the assignment, the evidence clock the comment" 0 \
+  "$((INOW - 3600)) $((INOW - 5 * 86400))" printf '%s\n' "$two_clocks"
+# One body, two callers: a second activity computation is the drift the
+# reuse exists to prevent, so the timeline read has exactly one spelling.
+check "the timeline read is not respelled for the evidence clock" 0 "1" \
+  grep -c 'issues/\$n/timeline' \
+  "$ROOT/actions/issueflow-reconcile/issueflow-reconcile.sh"
+
 # Both waits are quiet, both are owed, and to different parties: suppressing
 # one because the other spoke is a starved criterion, which is the failure
 # this nudge exists to remove.
@@ -766,7 +808,7 @@ check "the 7-day rule is not respelled in the sweep" 1 "" \
   "$ROOT/actions/issueflow-reconcile/issueflow-reconcile.sh"
 # shellcheck disable=SC2016 # the call site is asserted as a literal
 check "...it is reused from lib/ruling.sh" 0 "" \
-  grep -qF 'ruling_nudge_decision "$NOW" "$age"' \
+  grep -qF 'ruling_nudge_decision "$NOW" "$evidence_age"' \
   "$ROOT/actions/issueflow-reconcile/issueflow-reconcile.sh"
 
 # `post-merge` is the one queue state whose whole meaning is that the machine
@@ -1188,6 +1230,28 @@ check "...no unassign, no label swap, and no reclaim comment" 0 "" \
   bash -c 'test "$1" -eq "$(wc -l <"$2")" && test ! -f "$3"' _ \
   "$claim_edits_before" "$TMP/issue-edits" "$TMP/posted-50"
 
+# -- the quiet diagnostic: a 504 on a post-merge activity read (#254) --------
+# The guarded read is unconditional at the top of the branch, so a
+# `post-merge` issue can be skipped where before this change it never could —
+# and the assigned flag, which needed no read at all, goes quiet with it.
+# That is #247 D1's direction (a whole pass or none of it, never a verdict
+# derived from a read that did not answer) and the trade `claimed`, `blocked`
+# and `needs-ruling` already make. It is still a new way for that diagnostic
+# to fall silent, so it is pinned here rather than left to inspection.
+jq -n --arg at "$(iso_at $((INOW - 10 * 86400)))" \
+  '[{"user":{"login":"triage-one"},"created_at":$at,"html_url":"https://x/c94","body":"evidence pending"}]' \
+  >"$(cfix 94)"
+printf '%s\n' "$GH_STUB_ERROR_BODY" >"$(cfix 94).http-error"
+post_merge_skip_edits="$(wc -l <"$TMP/issue-edits")"
+check "a 504 on a post-merge activity read skips the issue" \
+  3 "#94: skipped this pass — could not read its activity history: $GH_STUB_STDERR" \
+  issue_probe 94 post-merge 1
+check "...so neither the nudge nor the assigned flag speaks" 1 "" test -f "$TMP/posted-94"
+# shellcheck disable=SC2016 # positional parameters belong to bash -c
+check "...and the skipped pass edits nothing" 0 "" \
+  bash -c 'test "$1" -eq "$(wc -l <"$2")"' _ \
+  "$post_merge_skip_edits" "$TMP/issue-edits"
+
 # -- the suppressed comment: a 504 on the marker read -----------------------
 # The marker is on the issue. Read as "no marker", a failed read re-posts the
 # comment the marker exists to suppress — every sweep, forever.