The Ruler Decides: Two Standard Reasoning Diagnostics Measure Other Than Claimed

Same-weight dual-mode models such as Qwen3 offer a controlled pairing: one weight set, one prompt, and only an `enable_thinking` switch. We audit two standard reasoning diagnostics on this pairing: the leading variance share $1-top1\_var$ of the cross-problem difference matrix $\delta =h_{\text{think}}-h_{\text{no-think}}$, and binary agreement $1[a>0.5]==1[b>0.5]$ read as metrics of divergence. In this paper, we ask what each actually measures. On MATH500 (0.6B–32B) the leading direction is mainly the question-invariant (mean) direction: $|\cos (u_1,\text{mean})|\ge 0.994$ **at L8** across the transition ($j\le 6$; 0.6B–14B; $\ge 0.95$ question-disjoint split-half). The familiar curve is therefore a **question-specific energy-share curve**, not a measure of rank structure; a non-thinking control shows the same drop, so its existence is not evidence of a phase transition. We build a content-graded ladder of five controlled continuations. Its crossing position orders consistently with the contrast's real content, but monotonicity does not survive a family-wise joint test. That position shows no monotone scaling across six sizes, and a pre-registered difficulty axis fails outright.