diff --git a/URLNotesGrabberCORE/DataAccess.cs b/URLNotesGrabberCORE/DataAccess.cs
index 2e0ef06..3ae316d 100644
--- a/URLNotesGrabberCORE/DataAccess.cs
+++ b/URLNotesGrabberCORE/DataAccess.cs
@@ -1515,7 +1515,7 @@ namespace URLNotesGrabberCORE
             return rowsAffected;
         }
 
-        public static void UpdateAllNoteReplyTextForPost(string rootBlogName, long postID, string replyText, string? DBPath = null)
+        public static int UpdateAllNoteReplyTextForPost(string rootBlogName, long postID, string replyText, string? DBPath = null)
         {
             DBPath ??= GetDefaultDbPath();
             SQLiteConnection connection = new SQLiteConnection("Data Source=" + DBPath);
@@ -1532,7 +1532,7 @@ namespace URLNotesGrabberCORE
                     command.Parameters.AddWithValue("@rootBlogName", rootBlogName);
                     command.Parameters.AddWithValue("@PostID", postID);
                     int rowsAffected = command.ExecuteNonQuery();
-                    
+
                     if (rowsAffected == 0)
                     {
                         Console.WriteLine($"[UpdateAllNoteReplyTextForPost] INFO: No rows updated for {rootBlogName}/{postID} (rows not found or values unchanged)");
@@ -1543,6 +1543,8 @@ namespace URLNotesGrabberCORE
                     {
                         Console.WriteLine($"[UpdateAllNoteReplyTextForPost] Successfully updated {rowsAffected} row(s) for {rootBlogName}/{postID} with '{replyText}'");
                     }
+
+                    return rowsAffected;
                 }
             }
             catch (Exception ex)
@@ -1550,6 +1552,7 @@ namespace URLNotesGrabberCORE
                 // Breakpoint here
                 Console.WriteLine($"[UpdateAllNoteReplyTextForPost] Error updating reply text: {ex.Message}");
                 Console.WriteLine($"[UpdateAllNoteReplyTextForPost] StackTrace: {ex.StackTrace}");
+                return 0;
             }
             finally
             {
diff --git a/URLNotesGrabberCORE/Program.cs b/URLNotesGrabberCORE/Program.cs
index f9a5c98..0817c12 100644
--- a/URLNotesGrabberCORE/Program.cs
+++ b/URLNotesGrabberCORE/Program.cs
@@ -459,6 +459,7 @@ namespace URLNotesGrabberCORE
                 int emptyReplyCount = 0;
                 long pageTimestamp = 0;
                 int page = 0;
+                bool sawHealthyResponse = false;
 
                 while (page < MaxPages)
                 {
@@ -478,6 +479,9 @@ namespace URLNotesGrabberCORE
                     if (postsResponse?.meta?.status != 429)
                         ApiKeyPool.MarkAvailable(key);
 
+                    if (postsResponse?.meta?.status == 200)
+                        sawHealthyResponse = true;
+
                     if (postsResponse?.response == null || postsResponse.response.notes == null || postsResponse.response.notes.Count == 0)
                     {
                         var prevColor = Console.ForegroundColor;
@@ -488,16 +492,6 @@ namespace URLNotesGrabberCORE
                         var raw = postsResponse?.rawJson ?? string.Empty;
                         if (raw.Length > 500) raw = raw.Substring(0, 500) + "...[truncated]";
                         Console.WriteLine($"[Reply Text]   raw: {raw}");
-
-                        // First-page 200 OK with empty notes = post has no conversational notes per Tumblr.
-                        // Mark all the post's replies '?' so the work queue stops handing this post back.
-                        if (page == 1 && postsResponse?.meta?.status == 200)
-                        {
-                            Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.Yellow;
-                            Console.WriteLine($"[Reply Text] Marking all replies for {blogName}/{postID} '?' (200 OK with no conversational notes)");
-                            Console.ForegroundColor = prevColor;
-                            DataAccess.UpdateAllNoteReplyTextForPost(blogName, postID, "?");
-                        }
                         break;
                     }
 
@@ -551,6 +545,18 @@ namespace URLNotesGrabberCORE
                     pageTimestamp = lastNoteTimestamp;
                 }
 
+                // If pagination finished without updating any reply rows but the API responded healthily
+                // at least once, mark the post's outstanding '.' replies '?' so the work queue releases it.
+                if (rowsUpdated == 0 && sawHealthyResponse)
+                {
+                    var prevColor = Console.ForegroundColor;
+                    Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.Yellow;
+                    Console.WriteLine($"[Reply Text] Marking outstanding replies for {blogName}/{postID} '?' (healthy 200 OK, no matching reply notes after {page} page(s))");
+                    Console.ForegroundColor = prevColor;
+                    rowsUpdated = DataAccess.UpdateAllNoteReplyTextForPost(blogName, postID, "?");
+                    emptyReplyCount += rowsUpdated;
+                }
+
                 Console.WriteLine($"[Reply Text] Done {blogName}/{postID}: notes={replyCount}, rowsUpdated={rowsUpdated}, empty='?'={emptyReplyCount}, pages={page}");
             }
             catch (Exception ex)