diff --git a/docs/for-manson-optional-profiles.md b/docs/for-manson-optional-profiles.md
new file mode 100644
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+++ b/docs/for-manson-optional-profiles.md
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+# What changed with member profiles, and why
+
+*A note for Manson before this goes out to the team.*
+
+## Your objection was right
+
+You pushed back on requiring a username and a verified email, and the reason you gave was
+decentralization: the whole point of building on a public smart contract is that no company holds
+your money and no company holds your identity. The moment participation depends on a database of
+names and email addresses, we have quietly rebuilt the thing we told people we were replacing.
+
+That is a fair reading and we changed the build because of it.
+
+## What we were actually trying to solve
+
+There is a real problem underneath. When something needs a member's attention, we have no way to
+tell them. If a payout routes past someone because they were not qualified, or a leader needs to
+reach their line about something time-sensitive, the only channel is hoping that person happens to
+open their page that day. Most do not. That is not a hypothetical, it is why this came up.
+
+So there were two things on the table that looked like one thing. Reaching people is a genuine
+need. Requiring identity is not the way to meet it.
+
+## What we built instead
+
+**Nothing is required. Anywhere.**
+
+Holding a position, getting paid, reading your org, the training, the promo tools, the whole
+dashboard, all of it works exactly as it does today with no username and no email. Nothing on chain
+touches any of this. A member who never gives us a thing loses nothing and is blocked from nothing.
+
+**There is no onboarding gate.** A new member registers, lands on their page, and is never stopped
+by a pop-up asking for details. This is written into the automated tests as a hard rule, so it
+cannot creep back in later by accident.
+
+**The dashboard makes an offer, once, and takes no for an answer.** There is a small card that says
+you can get an email the moment a payout lands in your wallet. It has a "Not now" button that
+removes it for a week. The card says in plain language that everything works the same without it.
+
+**One place asks, and only because it has to.** The inbox explains that messages can reach you there
+only, and that adding an email means they also reach you off the site. That is not a rule, it is a
+description of reality. A message cannot be delivered to someone who has left no way to reach them.
+
+**What we do with it: nothing.** It is never shown to other members. It is never sold. A member can
+change it or remove it any time from their own dashboard.
+
+## The part I think you will actually like
+
+Leaders now see one number on their own inbox: how many people in their org can be reached off the
+site, out of the total. It is scoped to your own team, so it tells you nothing about anyone else's.
+
+That number reframes the whole thing. Coverage stops being a rule imposed from the top and becomes
+a leader's own job, solved the way everything else here is solved, by talking to your two and
+letting it duplicate. If a leader wants to be able to reach their team, they have to earn that by
+asking. That is the decentralized answer to a centralized problem, and it is the version worth
+shipping.
+
+## The honest trade
+
+We will have lower coverage than a mandatory system would. Some members will never add anything,
+and when something needs them, we will not be able to tell them. That is a real cost and we are
+choosing to pay it, because the alternative costs more.
+
+The bet is that an offer people actually want, a note the moment money hits their wallet, will do
+better over time than a requirement people resent. If that bet is wrong, the fix is better
+messaging, not a mandate.
+
+## Separately: the "you have to get to level 8" point
+
+You raised this too, so here is what I found when I went through the dashboard code.
+
+Nothing requires anyone to reach level 8, or any level. The upgrade prompt only appears when someone
+already has two people under them and money is actually about to route past them, and it names one
+next level, never a target at the top. The dashboard says in two places that upgrading is optional
+and self-paced.
+
+The one thing that could reasonably be read your way is the ladder graphic. It shows all eight rungs
+at once, which does look like a climb you are supposed to finish. That was a display choice, not a
+rule, but the impression is fair. It now carries a line saying you stop wherever you like, there is
+no level you have to reach, and the "next" marker is only a suggestion based on who is below you
+today.
+
+So: no change to how anything pays, and a wording fix where the picture was doing the misleading.
+
+---
+
+Nothing here has been sent to the team. If you see a problem with any of it, say so and it changes
+before it ships.
diff --git a/qa/live-visitor.mjs b/qa/live-visitor.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5197ffa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/qa/live-visitor.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+// Read-only smoke check against PRODUCTION: a visitor on any ID-keyed shared link
+// must see no profile prompt of any kind, and no errors. Anonymous, GET only.
+// Run: node qa/live-visitor.mjs
+import { pathToFileURL } from 'node:url';
+const PW = 'D:/Projects/MarketingAgent/qa-tester/node_modules/playwright';
+const { chromium } = (await import(pathToFileURL(PW + '/index.js').href)).default;
+const B = process.env.LIVE || 'https://rmcircle.team';
+const ok = [], bad = [];
+const t = (n, c, extra) => { (c ? ok : bad).push(n + (c || !extra ? '' : '  -> ' + extra)); };
+const browser = await chromium.launch();
+const ctx = await browser.newContext({ viewport: { width: 1280, height: 950 } });
+const p = await ctx.newPage();
+const errs = [], bad401 = [];
+p.on('pageerror', e => errs.push(String(e.message).slice(0, 140)));
+p.on('response', r => { if (r.status() === 401 && /\/profile|\/reach/.test(r.url())) bad401.push(r.url()); });
+
+for (const u of ['/my/21', '/my/49', '/my/787', '/join/21', '/fast-start?id=21', '/generation-pay?id=21', '/flyers?id=21']) {
+  await p.goto(B + u, { waitUntil: 'domcontentloaded' }).catch(() => {});
+  await p.waitForTimeout(2600);
+  const modal = await p.evaluate(() => !!document.querySelector('#pgCard'));
+  const invite = await p.evaluate(() => !!document.getElementById('pcGo'));
+  const txt = await p.evaluate(() => document.body.innerText);
+  t('visitor ' + u + ': renders, no modal, no invitation',
+    !modal && !invite && txt.length > 300, 'modal=' + modal + ' invite=' + invite + ' len=' + txt.length);
+}
+t('no 401s on profile/reach for a visitor', bad401.length === 0, bad401.join(','));
+t('no uncaught page errors', errs.length === 0, errs.slice(0, 3).join(' | '));
+
+console.log('LIVE PASS ' + ok.length);
+for (const b of bad) console.log('LIVE FAIL ' + b);
+await browser.close();
+process.exit(bad.length ? 1 : 0);