When NOT to snooze-by-bumping the trigger field
Fixing a deferred reminder action that polluted unrelated UI surfaces
A previous note recommended implementing snooze by bumping the timestamp the reminder cadence already reads, instead of adding a parallel deferred_until column. That works only if the timestamp is consumed solely by the cadence logic. If it has any other readers — a recent-activity sort, a display line, a metric — those will interpret the bumped value as ground truth and lie to the user. The honest signal last_contacted = when we actually talked is worth preserving; add a dedicated snoozed_until field instead and have the reminder calc short-circuit on it. Bonus pattern: when adding a system-managed field to a model whose server-side PATCH replaces fields wholesale, round-trip it through a hidden input on every edit form, otherwise unrelated saves will silently drop it.
Before applying the snooze-by-bumping trick, list every other place that reads the field. If the list has more than just the reminder logic, the trick lies; add a separate field.