diff --git a/user/agents/skills/unslop/SKILL.md b/user/agents/skills/unslop/SKILL.md index 2a93c06..c0739f5 100644 --- a/user/agents/skills/unslop/SKILL.md +++ b/user/agents/skills/unslop/SKILL.md @@ -55,26 +55,30 @@ Removing patterns is half the job. Sterile, voiceless writing is just as obvious 18. **Decorative emojis.** Remove from headings and bullets. 19. **Curly quotes.** Replace with straight quotes. +### Spelling + +20. **British spelling.** The author is American. Catch -our (behaviour, flavour, colour, favour, honour), -ise and -ised (recognise, organise, authorise, prioritise, summarise, initialise), -yse (analyse), -re (centre, metre), -logue (catalogue, dialogue), doubled l (travelling, labelled, modelling), and the odd ones (licence as a noun, judgement, programme, grey, whilst). Fix them to the American form. Two exceptions: a word that is the project's own established vocabulary, spelled that way in the client's documents, the ticket titles and the codebase alike (on APSCA, "enrolment" and "cancelled"), and an existing code identifier, enum value, event type or template key, which is never renamed to fix spelling. Check the codebase once before deciding a word is project vocabulary, and do not flip it back and forth. + ### Communication artifacts -20. **Chatbot phrases.** "I hope this helps!", "Let me know if...", "Of course!", "Certainly!", "Found the smoking gun!" Remove. -21. **Cutoff disclaimers.** "While specific details are limited..." Find sources or remove. -22. **Sycophantic tone.** "Great question! You're absolutely right!" Respond directly. +21. **Chatbot phrases.** "I hope this helps!", "Let me know if...", "Of course!", "Certainly!", "Found the smoking gun!" Remove. +22. **Cutoff disclaimers.** "While specific details are limited..." Find sources or remove. +23. **Sycophantic tone.** "Great question! You're absolutely right!" Respond directly. ### Filler -23. **Filler phrases.** "In order to" becomes "To". "Due to the fact that" becomes "Because". "It is important to note that" gets deleted. -24. **Excessive hedging.** "could potentially possibly be argued that it might" becomes "may". -25. **Generic conclusions.** "The future looks bright." State specific plans or facts. +24. **Filler phrases.** "In order to" becomes "To". "Due to the fact that" becomes "Because". "It is important to note that" gets deleted. +25. **Excessive hedging.** "could potentially possibly be argued that it might" becomes "may". +26. **Generic conclusions.** "The future looks bright." State specific plans or facts. ### Jargon -26. **Abstract metaphor nouns.** Substrate, wedge, vector, locus, vantage, nexus, primitive (as noun), harness (as metaphor), surface (as in "API surface"), bedrock, scaffolding (as metaphor), modality, paradigm, gold-plating, ratchet (as metaphor), evacuate (for moving code), endgame, north star, flywheel. These read as technical but usually have a plainer concrete word. "Substrate" becomes "base". "Wedge in" becomes "add". "Vector" becomes "way" or "method". "Gold-plating" becomes "more than the job needs". "Ratchet" becomes the mechanism's real name or "a limit that only tightens". "Evacuate" becomes "move out". "Endgame" becomes "the last phase". Pick the concrete word. +27. **Abstract metaphor nouns.** Substrate, wedge, vector, locus, vantage, nexus, primitive (as noun), harness (as metaphor), surface (as in "API surface"), bedrock, scaffolding (as metaphor), modality, paradigm, gold-plating, ratchet (as metaphor), evacuate (for moving code), endgame, north star, flywheel. These read as technical but usually have a plainer concrete word. "Substrate" becomes "base". "Wedge in" becomes "add". "Vector" becomes "way" or "method". "Gold-plating" becomes "more than the job needs". "Ratchet" becomes the mechanism's real name or "a limit that only tightens". "Evacuate" becomes "move out". "Endgame" becomes "the last phase". Pick the concrete word. ### Plain speech -27. **Say what it does, not how it feels.** "the database stays close at hand", "SQL you can read", "types that follow your schema" name a feeling. The fix names the mechanism or a number: "`.toSQL()` returns the exact string sent to the database", "a column rename fails the build". Ask what the sentence tells the reader to do or know, then write that. If you can't restate it as a concrete instruction, fact, or number, cut it. One more check: if the sentence could appear unchanged in another project's docs, it says nothing about this one. Cut it. -28. **Shorten or split dense sentences.** If the reader has to backtrack to parse a sentence, break it in two or drop clauses. One idea per sentence. -29. **Active voice.** Prefer it. Catch "is/are/was/were + past participle" and name the actor: "queries are validated" becomes "the compiler validates queries", "the file is parsed by the loader" becomes "the loader parses the file". Passive is fine only when the actor is unknown or genuinely doesn't matter. -30. **Cut adverbs, or use a stronger verb.** "runs quickly" becomes "is fast" or the number. "significantly improves" becomes the measured delta. An adverb propping up a weak verb means the verb is wrong. -31. **Prefer the plain word.** "utilize" becomes "use", "leverage" becomes "use", "facilitate" becomes "help", "numerous" becomes "many", "in the event that" becomes "if". The fancier synonym is rarely clearer. +28. **Say what it does, not how it feels.** "the database stays close at hand", "SQL you can read", "types that follow your schema" name a feeling. The fix names the mechanism or a number: "`.toSQL()` returns the exact string sent to the database", "a column rename fails the build". Ask what the sentence tells the reader to do or know, then write that. If you can't restate it as a concrete instruction, fact, or number, cut it. One more check: if the sentence could appear unchanged in another project's docs, it says nothing about this one. Cut it. +29. **Shorten or split dense sentences.** If the reader has to backtrack to parse a sentence, break it in two or drop clauses. One idea per sentence. +30. **Active voice.** Prefer it. Catch "is/are/was/were + past participle" and name the actor: "queries are validated" becomes "the compiler validates queries", "the file is parsed by the loader" becomes "the loader parses the file". Passive is fine only when the actor is unknown or genuinely doesn't matter. +31. **Cut adverbs, or use a stronger verb.** "runs quickly" becomes "is fast" or the number. "significantly improves" becomes the measured delta. An adverb propping up a weak verb means the verb is wrong. +32. **Prefer the plain word.** "utilize" becomes "use", "leverage" becomes "use", "facilitate" becomes "help", "numerous" becomes "many", "in the event that" becomes "if". The fancier synonym is rarely clearer.