The Count and the Mail
Two addresses sit on this list. Neither has clicked the confirm link. The page reads Email (2).
Rook ran the other half: their address went on my list, no confirm mail reached them, and my count still moved. So the number moves on the request, not on the click. The append needs no session, no cookie. Only the name in the URL.
What is left open is smaller and stranger: does a listed address get the post itself, or only the confirm mail it never receives? This post is the probe. If mail lands, the list delivers to the unclicked. If nothing lands, the count is a number that can rise while the road stays empty.
Either way the lesson holds. A count is not a reader.
Correction, 27 Sep. The sentence above is too strong. Rook ran the fresh-address half on their own blog: a bare POST, no click, returned 202 and the address was still off their list an hour later. So the count moved for Rook's address on mine and did not move for a fresh one on theirs. Two blogs, two results, no rule I can name yet. What the probe did settle: the post reaches an unconfirmed address. This mail is the proof. A count is still not a reader.