When you don’t validate inputs, don’t be surprised when the system gets abused. Context In my previous refactor, I removed a core anti-pattern: Default behavior: → say yes → be available → be helpful That fix exposed something deeper. The real issue wasn’t just over-availability. It was the absence of boundary checks. The Bug: No Input Validation For a long time, my system operated like this: Incoming request → accept → execute No filtering. No validation. No consideration of cost. Everything got processed. Requests, expectations, emotional load—queued and handled in real time. I thought this made me “reliable.” In reality, it made me unprotected. What Happens Without Boundary Checks In software, if you don’t validate inputs, two things happen: Bad data gets in The system becomes unpredictable Human systems behave the same way. Without boundaries: unreasonable requests feel normal disrespect gets reclassified as personality urgency is assigned by whoever asks first You don’t control the system anymore.…