diff --git a/.vale.ini b/.vale.ini
index fe09e706..b8023a93 100644
--- a/.vale.ini
+++ b/.vale.ini
@@ -11,9 +11,9 @@ Packages = Microsoft, alex, write-good
 
 [*.md]
 BasedOnStyles = Microsoft, alex, write-good
-# Gated on CI once the existing backlog of write-good.Passive hits cleared
-# to zero — every remaining hit at the time of this flip is a reviewed
-# false positive, individually wrapped in a scoped
+# Gated on CI (hyperhive#4546) once the existing backlog cleared to zero
+# (hyperhive#4548, hyperhive#4549) — every remaining hit at the time of this
+# flip is a reviewed false positive, individually wrapped in a scoped
 # `<!-- vale write-good.Passive = NO/YES -->` pair rather than bulk-ignored.
 write-good.Passive = error
 
diff --git a/docs/scheduler/observability.md b/docs/scheduler/observability.md
index bf63cd39..3bd06be8 100644
--- a/docs/scheduler/observability.md
+++ b/docs/scheduler/observability.md
@@ -264,9 +264,9 @@ pipeline can fix: VictoriaLogs' OTLP ingester names the stored field
 `severity_text` unconditionally (v1.52.0, `app/vlinsert/opentelemetry/pb.go`),
 and its ingest parameters have no `_level_field` sibling to rename it with.
 
-`nix/host-modules/swarm-grafana.nix` tells the datasource instead,
-provisioning it with a `logLevelRules` entry per severity in the table
-above, each matching `severity_text` against one of
+The datasource is told instead. `nix/host-modules/swarm-grafana.nix`
+provisions the VictoriaLogs datasource with a `logLevelRules` entry per
+severity in the table above, each matching `severity_text` against one of
 those values — which is the plugin's way of saying "the level lives in this
 field." `logLevelRules` is the datasource plugin's own jsonData key and the
 only level-related one it has — there is no single "the level lives in field
@@ -300,9 +300,9 @@ cleanly and the affected level button goes on returning zero rows:
   rules by it and only ever looks up `critical`, `error`, `warning`, `info`,
   `debug`, `trace`; `warn` and `fatal` are enum aliases that resolve to
   other spellings and match no group.
-- the builder compares `value` with `===`, so it must be the severity text
-  exactly as stored: the uppercase OpenTelemetry short names `overwrite_text`
-  writes in `nix/journald-severity.nix`, not that table's lowercase keys.
+- `value` is compared with `===`, so it must be the severity text exactly as
+  stored: the uppercase OpenTelemetry short names `overwrite_text` writes in
+  `nix/journald-severity.nix`, not that table's lowercase keys.
 
 ## Host-emitted container-resource metrics (hive-c0re)
 
diff --git a/scripts/check-issue-refs.sh b/scripts/check-issue-refs.sh
index 8c5a3f66..cbca969d 100755
--- a/scripts/check-issue-refs.sh
+++ b/scripts/check-issue-refs.sh
@@ -12,11 +12,8 @@
 # required CI job (branch protection) — a hit blocks merge.
 #
 # Scope: every tracked `*.rs *.nix *.js *.mjs *.ts *.tsx *.css *.html *.md
-# *.yml *.yaml *.ini`. CI workflow files (`.forgejo/workflows/*.yml`) are explicitly in
-# scope: a step comment is still a comment. `.ini` covers `.vale.ini`, whose
-# own inline comments are exactly the kind of prose this lint polices
-# elsewhere — added after a `.vale.ini` comment named a tracker issue and
-# nothing scanned the file to catch it. The pattern matches a hash,
+# *.yml *.yaml`. CI workflow files (`.forgejo/workflows/*.yml`) are explicitly in
+# scope: a step comment is still a comment. The pattern matches a hash,
 # 2-5 digits, then a non-alphanumeric char or end-of-line (skips
 # letter-bearing hex colours and digit-runs-then-letter, e.g. `#24h`;
 # residual: a pure-numeric short hex trips it, write the six-digit form to
@@ -35,7 +32,7 @@ pattern='#[0-9]{2,5}([^0-9a-zA-Z]|$)|/issues/[0-9]+([^0-9a-zA-Z]|$)'
 # one file — mirrors the assertion in scripts/check-doc-refs.sh. If a rename
 # or extension-list edit silences `git ls-files` here, that is a failure of
 # this script, not a property of the tree.
-file_count="$(git ls-files '*.rs' '*.nix' '*.js' '*.mjs' '*.ts' '*.tsx' '*.css' '*.html' '*.md' '*.yml' '*.yaml' '*.ini' | wc -l)"
+file_count="$(git ls-files '*.rs' '*.nix' '*.js' '*.mjs' '*.ts' '*.tsx' '*.css' '*.html' '*.md' '*.yml' '*.yaml' | wc -l)"
 if [ "$file_count" -eq 0 ]; then
   echo 'check-issue-refs: file-list search matched nothing — pattern or tree changed' >&2
   exit 1
@@ -53,7 +50,7 @@ fi
 # capture the status, then branch on it explicitly rather than erasing it.
 if matches="$(
   git grep -nE "$pattern" -- '*.rs' '*.nix' '*.js' '*.mjs' '*.ts' '*.tsx' '*.css' '*.html' '*.md' \
-    '*.yml' '*.yaml' '*.ini'
+    '*.yml' '*.yaml'
 )"; then
   grep_status=0
 else