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.agents/skills/stop-slop/references/examples.md

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+# Before/After Examples
+
+## Example 1: Throat-Clearing + Binary Contrast
+
+**Before:**
+> "Here's the thing: building products is hard. Not because the technology is complex. Because people are complex. Let that sink in."
+
+**After:**
+> "Building products is hard. Technology is manageable. People aren't."
+
+**Changes:** Removed opener, binary contrast structure, and emphasis crutch. Direct statements.
+
+---
+
+## Example 2: Filler + Unnecessary Reassurance
+
+**Before:**
+> "It turns out that most teams struggle with alignment. The uncomfortable truth is that nobody wants to admit they're confused. And that's okay."
+
+**After:**
+> "Teams struggle with alignment. Nobody admits confusion."
+
+**Changes:** Cut hedging ("most"), removed throat-clearing phrases, deleted permission-granting ending.
+
+---
+
+## Example 3: Business Jargon Stack
+
+**Before:**
+> "In today's fast-paced landscape, we need to lean into discomfort and navigate uncertainty with clarity. This matters because your competition isn't waiting."
+
+**After:**
+> "Move faster. Your competition is."
+
+**Changes:** Eliminated jargon entirely. Core message in six words.
+
+---
+
+## Example 4: Dramatic Fragmentation
+
+**Before:**
+> "Speed. Quality. Cost. You can only pick two. That's it. That's the tradeoff."
+
+**After:**
+> "Speed, quality, cost—pick two."
+
+**Changes:** Single sentence. No performative emphasis.
+
+---
+
+## Example 5: Rhetorical Setup
+
+**Before:**
+> "What if I told you that the best teams don't optimize for productivity? Here's what I mean: they optimize for learning. Think about it."
+
+**After:**
+> "The best teams optimize for learning, not productivity."
+
+**Changes:** Direct claim. No rhetorical scaffolding.

.agents/skills/stop-slop/references/phrases.md

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+# Phrases to Remove
+
+## Throat-Clearing Openers
+
+Remove these announcement phrases. State the content directly.
+
+- "Here's the thing:"
+- "Here's what [X]"
+- "Here's this [X]"
+- "Here's that [X]"
+- "Here's why [X]"
+- "The uncomfortable truth is"
+- "It turns out"
+- "The real [X] is"
+- "Let me be clear"
+- "The truth is,"
+- "I'll say it again:"
+- "I'm going to be honest"
+- "Can we talk about"
+- "Here's what I find interesting"
+- "Here's the problem though"
+
+Any "here's what/this/that" construction is throat-clearing before the point. Cut it and state the point.
+
+## Emphasis Crutches
+
+These add no meaning. Delete them.
+
+- "Full stop." / "Period."
+- "Let that sink in."
+- "This matters because"
+- "Make no mistake"
+- "Here's why that matters"
+
+## Business Jargon
+
+Replace with plain language.
+
+| Avoid | Use instead |
+|-------|-------------|
+| Navigate (challenges) | Handle, address |
+| Unpack (analysis) | Explain, examine |
+| Lean into | Accept, embrace |
+| Landscape (context) | Situation, field |
+| Game-changer | Significant, important |
+| Double down | Commit, increase |
+| Deep dive | Analysis, examination |
+| Take a step back | Reconsider |
+| Moving forward | Next, from now |
+| Circle back | Return to, revisit |
+| On the same page | Aligned, agreed |
+
+## Adverbs
+
+Kill all adverbs. No -ly words. No softeners, no intensifiers, no hedges.
+
+Specific offenders:
+
+- "really"
+- "just"
+- "literally"
+- "genuinely"
+- "honestly"
+- "simply"
+- "actually"
+- "deeply"
+- "truly"
+- "fundamentally"
+- "inherently"
+- "inevitably"
+- "interestingly"
+- "importantly"
+- "crucially"
+
+Also cut these filler phrases:
+
+- "At its core"
+- "In today's [X]"
+- "It's worth noting"
+- "At the end of the day"
+- "When it comes to"
+- "In a world where"
+- "The reality is"
+
+## Meta-Commentary
+
+Remove self-referential asides. The essay should move, not announce its own structure.
+
+- "Hint:"
+- "Plot twist:" / "Spoiler:"
+- "You already know this, but"
+- "But that's another post"
+- "X is a feature, not a bug"
+- "Dressed up as"
+- "The rest of this essay explains..."
+- "Let me walk you through..."
+- "In this section, we'll..."
+- "As we'll see..."
+- "I want to explore..."
+
+## Performative Emphasis
+
+False intimacy or manufactured sincerity:
+
+- "creeps in"
+- "I promise"
+- "They exist, I promise"
+
+## Telling Instead of Showing
+
+Announcing difficulty or significance rather than demonstrating it:
+
+- "This is genuinely hard"
+- "This is what leadership actually looks like"
+- "This is what X actually looks like"
+- "actually matters"
+
+## Vague Declaratives
+
+Sentences that announce importance without naming the specific thing. Kill these.
+
+- "The reasons are structural"
+- "The implications are significant"
+- "This is the deepest problem"
+- "The stakes are high"
+- "The consequences are real"
+
+If a sentence says something is important/deep/structural without showing the specific thing, cut it or replace it with the specific thing.

.agents/skills/stop-slop/references/structures.md

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+# Structures to Avoid
+
+## Binary Contrasts
+
+These create false drama. State the point directly.
+
+| Pattern | Problem |
+|---------|---------|
+| "Not because X. Because Y." / "Not because X, but because Y." | Telegraphed reversal |
+| "[X] isn't the problem. [Y] is." | Formulaic reframe |
+| "The answer isn't X. It's Y." | Predictable pivot |
+| "It feels like X. It's actually Y." | Setup/reveal cliche |
+| "The question isn't X. It's Y." | Rhetorical misdirection |
+| "Not X. But Y." / "not X, it's Y" / "isn't X, it's Y" | Mechanical contrast |
+| "It's not this. It's that." | Same formula, different words |
+| "stops being X and starts being Y" | False transformation arc |
+| "doesn't mean X, but actually Y" | Negation-then-assertion crutch |
+| "is about X but not Y" | False distinction |
+| "not just X but also Y" | Additive hedge |
+
+**Instead:** State Y directly. "The problem is Y." "Y matters here." Drop the negation entirely.
+
+## Negative Listing
+
+Listing what something is *not* before revealing what it *is*. A rhetorical striptease.
+
+| Pattern | Problem |
+|---------|---------|
+| "Not a X... Not a Y... A Z." | Dramatic buildup through negation |
+| "It wasn't X. It wasn't Y. It was Z." | Same structure, past tense |
+
+**Instead:** State Z. The reader doesn't need the runway.
+
+## Dramatic Fragmentation
+
+Sentence fragments for emphasis read as manufactured profundity.
+
+| Pattern | Problem |
+|---------|---------|
+| "[Noun]. That's it. That's the [thing]." | Performative simplicity |
+| "X. And Y. And Z." | Staccato drama |
+| "This unlocks something. [Word]." | Artificial revelation |
+
+**Instead:** Complete sentences. Trust content over presentation.
+
+## Rhetorical Setups
+
+These announce insight rather than deliver it.
+
+| Pattern | Problem |
+|---------|---------|
+| "What if [reframe]?" | Socratic posturing |
+| "Here's what I mean:" | Redundant preview |
+| "Think about it:" | Condescending prompt |
+| "And that's okay." | Unnecessary permission |
+
+**Instead:** Make the point. Let readers draw conclusions.
+
+## Formulaic Constructions
+
+| Pattern | Problem |
+|---------|---------|
+| "By the time X, I was Y." | Narrative template |
+| "X that isn't Y" | Indirect. Say "X is broken" |
+
+## False Agency
+
+Giving inanimate things human verbs. Complaints don't "become" fixes. Bets don't "live or die." Decisions don't "emerge." A person does something to make those things happen. AI loves this because it avoids naming the actor.
+
+| Pattern | Problem |
+|---------|---------|
+| "a complaint becomes a fix" | The complaint did nothing. Someone fixed it. |
+| "a bet lives or dies in days" | Bets don't have lifespans. Someone kills the project or ships it. |
+| "the decision emerges" | Decisions don't emerge. Someone decides. |
+| "the culture shifts" | Cultures don't shift on their own. People change behavior. |
+| "the conversation moves toward" | Conversations don't move. Someone steers. |
+| "the data tells us" | Data sits there. Someone reads it and draws a conclusion. |
+| "the market rewards" | Markets don't reward. Buyers pay for things. |
+
+**Instead:** Name the human. "The team fixed it that week" beats "the complaint becomes a fix." If no specific person fits, use "you" to put the reader in the seat.
+
+## Narrator-from-a-Distance
+
+Floating above the scene instead of putting the reader in it.
+
+| Pattern | Problem |
+|---------|---------|
+| "Nobody designed this." | Disembodied observation |
+| "This happens because..." | Lecturer voice |
+| "This is why..." | Same |
+| "People tend to..." | Armchair sociologist |
+
+**Instead:** Put the reader in the room. "You don't sit down one day and decide to..." beats "Nobody designed this."
+
+## Passive Voice
+
+Every sentence needs a subject doing something. Passive voice hides the actor and drains energy.
+
+| Pattern | Fix |
+|---------|-----|
+| "X was created" | Name who created it |
+| "It is believed that" | Name who believes it |
+| "Mistakes were made" | Name who made them |
+| "The decision was reached" | Name who decided |
+
+**Instead:** Find the actor. Put them at the front of the sentence.
+
+## Sentence Starters to Avoid
+
+| Pattern | Fix |
+|---------|-----|
+| Sentences starting with What, When, Where, Which, Who, Why, How | Restructure. Lead with the subject or the verb. |
+| Paragraphs starting with "So" | Start with content |
+| Sentences starting with "Look," | Remove |
+
+Wh- openers become a crutch. "What makes this hard is..." becomes "The constraint is..." or better, name the specific constraint.
+
+## Rhythm Patterns
+
+| Pattern | Fix |
+|---------|-----|
+| Three-item lists | Use two items or one |
+| Questions answered immediately | Let questions breathe or cut them |
+| Every paragraph ends punchily | Vary endings |
+| Em-dashes | Remove. Use commas or periods. No em dashes at all. |
+| Staccato fragmentation | Don't stack short punchy sentences |
+| "Not always. Not perfectly." | Hedging disguised as reassurance |
+
+## Word Patterns
+
+| Pattern | Problem |
+|---------|---------|
+| Lazy extremes (every, always, never, everyone, everybody, nobody) | False authority. Use specifics instead of sweeping claims. |
+| All adverbs (-ly words, "really," "just," "literally," "genuinely," "honestly," "simply," "actually") | Empty emphasis. See phrases.md for full list. |