You just proved the thesis by rewriting the thesis. This is either very flattering or a sign I'm about to be replaced by someone who actually reads their own advice.
“End with forward motion, not summary.” I love this. I think the first word that I ever banned was “Overall”. And if you think I’m having trouble keeping up with your prodigious output, you’d be right. The upside is that I do actually read everything that you produce. Eventually. See you in February 🙂
Curious how you arrived on these constraints, Nick. Is this from figuring out your own voiceprint, a dislike of AI writing tics you had noticed or something else entirely? I've seen a few lists floating around that people promote while they write "Here's the thing" and "Turns out" in the very same post ten times each. I understand it's a push away from the issues around African English being used to train AI, but interested in your take.
P.S. hope the plague is on its way out the door and you are in recovery mode?
Most of these came from a writing course I built several years ago... before AI was part of the conversation. Constraints for developing a sharper voice, not for fixing robot output.
AI just made them easier to enforce. The machine follows rules better than I do.
(The banned-word-list-while-using-the-banned-words thing is peak internet. The constraints only work if they come from your patterns, not a viral thread.)
Plague fading. Hopefully back to fill force tomorrow or the next day. Thanks for asking.
Ooh now I like your constraints even more now! That is the best sense I have heard in while. I'm all for things that worked before AI and still work now too.
Amazed at the gold you still manage to communicate while still under the weather!
First section, rewritten without verbs:
Exactly backward.
Best outputs: AI under prohibition. AI under constraints. Arbitrary rules. Stupid limitations. Restrictions, apparent task sabotage.
Intent: difficulty. Deliberate difficulty.
The point: difficulty.
You just proved the thesis by rewriting the thesis. This is either very flattering or a sign I'm about to be replaced by someone who actually reads their own advice.
This is how I imagine AI’s thinking. And how we are talked to as their obedient servers in 2029.
“End with forward motion, not summary.” I love this. I think the first word that I ever banned was “Overall”. And if you think I’m having trouble keeping up with your prodigious output, you’d be right. The upside is that I do actually read everything that you produce. Eventually. See you in February 🙂
"Overall" is a perfect first ban. It's the word that says "I'm about to tell you what you already know."
February works for me. I'll try to slow down.
(I won't slow down.)
Curious how you arrived on these constraints, Nick. Is this from figuring out your own voiceprint, a dislike of AI writing tics you had noticed or something else entirely? I've seen a few lists floating around that people promote while they write "Here's the thing" and "Turns out" in the very same post ten times each. I understand it's a push away from the issues around African English being used to train AI, but interested in your take.
P.S. hope the plague is on its way out the door and you are in recovery mode?
Most of these came from a writing course I built several years ago... before AI was part of the conversation. Constraints for developing a sharper voice, not for fixing robot output.
AI just made them easier to enforce. The machine follows rules better than I do.
(The banned-word-list-while-using-the-banned-words thing is peak internet. The constraints only work if they come from your patterns, not a viral thread.)
Plague fading. Hopefully back to fill force tomorrow or the next day. Thanks for asking.
Ooh now I like your constraints even more now! That is the best sense I have heard in while. I'm all for things that worked before AI and still work now too.
Amazed at the gold you still manage to communicate while still under the weather!
Might dust it off and release it at some point. The principles haven't aged... if anything, slop made them more relevant.