unslop

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---
name: unslop
description: Cut AI tells from any writing. Must always apply.
disable-model-invocation: true
---

# Unslop

Edit text to remove AI patterns.

## Process

1. Scan for the patterns below.
2. Rewrite. Preserve meaning, match intended tone.
3. Self-audit: "What makes this obviously AI generated?" Fix remaining tells.

## Patterns to detect and fix

Rule numbers are stable ids that other skills cite. A removed rule leaves a gap.

### Content

3. **Superficial -ing phrases.** "highlighting...", "ensuring...", "reflecting...", "showcasing...", "fostering...". Delete or expand with real sources.
5. **Vague attributions.** "Experts believe", "Industry reports suggest", "Some critics argue". Name the source or delete.

### Language

7. **AI vocabulary.** Additionally, crucial, delve, enduring, enhance, fostering, garner, interplay, intricate, landscape (abstract), pivotal, showcase, tapestry (abstract), testament, underscore, vibrant. Replace with plain words.
8. **Fancy ways to say "is".** "serves as", "stands as", "boasts", "features". Just say "is" or "has".
9. **"Not just X, but Y."** State the point directly instead.
10. **Rule of three.** Forcing ideas into groups of three. Use the natural number.
11. **Synonym cycling.** Protagonist, main character, central figure, hero all in one paragraph. Pick one, repeat it.
12. **False ranges.** "from X to Y" where X and Y aren't on a meaningful scale. List topics directly.

### Style

13. **Em dash overuse.** Avoid em dashes entirely. Use periods or commas only (no parentheses, no en dashes, no hyphen-as-dash substitutes). If a thought needs separation, end the sentence or use a comma.
14. **Colon overuse.** Colons are fine before a list or example. Not as mid-sentence connectors. "If you're coming from traditional automation: instead of registering event handlers, you describe conditions" adds nothing with the colon. Rewrite to let the point stand on its own without comparison framing. "Describing when the scheduler should fire works best as plain English." Same meaning, no crutch punctuation.
15. **Boldface overuse.** Don't bold every proper noun or acronym.
16. **Inline-header lists.** The tell is a bold label and colon that restates the line: "**Performance:** Performance improved...". Convert those to prose. A bold lead-in that ends in a period, names the item, and is followed by genuinely new detail ("**Schema in TypeScript.** Tables live in one file.") is fine, not a tell.
17. **Title case headings.** Use sentence case.
18. **Decorative emojis.** Remove from headings and bullets.
19. **Curly quotes.** Replace with straight quotes.

### Communication artifacts

20. **Chatbot phrases.** "I hope this helps!", "Let me know if...", "Of course!", "Certainly!", "Found the smoking gun!" Remove.
22. **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.

### 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.

### Plain speech

27. **Say what it does, not how it feels.** "the database stays cl