git:20260705.1efdd2c to git:20260905.0fd23a5

- description: "AI pattern avoidance, dead vocabulary, voice rules, and rhythm guidance for writing that reads as genuinely human. Apply to any content writing or rewriting task."

- compatibility: "Octomind content agents."

- AI-generated text has measurable signatures that readers and search engines detect. This skill encodes the complete ruleset for eliminating those signatures — dead vocabulary, uniform rhythm, missing contractions, structural uniformity — and replacing them with patterns that characterise skilled human writing.

-

- Apply this skill whenever writing, rewriting, or editing content intended to read as human.

-

- ## Instructions

-

- ### Dead Vocabulary — Never Use

-

- These words appear 5–10× more in AI text than human text. Replace every instance.

-

- Dead verbs: delve, embark, elevate, unleash, harness, unlock, unveil, foster, navigate, streamline, leverage, underscore, garner, revolutionize

-

- Dead adjectives: profound, innovative, transformative, seamless, meticulous, vibrant, robust, cutting-edge, pivotal, intricate, comprehensive, groundbreaking, crucial, vital, essential, poignant, renowned

-

- Dead nouns: landscape, tapestry, realm, journey, testament, synergy, underpinnings, dynamic (as noun), aspect (overused), complexity (overused)

-

- Dead adverbs: seamlessly, significantly, notably, relentlessly, tirelessly, profoundly

-

- Dead transitions: furthermore, moreover, additionally, consequently, importantly, notably, indeed, essentially, alternatively, ultimately

-

- Dead phrases:

- - "it's important to note"

- - "in today's [anything] world"

- - "in the realm of"

- - "designed to enhance"

- - "diverse array"

- - "rich tapestry"

- - "ever-evolving"

- - "game changer"

- - "it's worth noting"

- - "delving into the intricacies"

- - "navigating the complexities"

- - "a testament to"

- - "not just X, but also Y" — rewrite this construction every time

- - "what nobody tells you" / "what no one else is talking about" — itself a cliché now, don't open with it

-

- Second-wave vocabulary (2025–2026) — the first wave (delve, tapestry, realm) faded once everyone knew to grep for it; models moved on to these. Refresh this list as new tells emerge — vocabulary rotates, structure doesn't:

- - "quiet" / "quietly" as a faux-profound modifier — "a quiet shift", "quietly reshaping" (literal quiet — a quiet room, a quiet voice — is fine)

- - "drift" / "drifting" as an abstract metaphor — "cultural drift", "we're drifting toward X"

- - "signal" as a vague noun for "sign" or "indicator" — "a signal that things are changing" (a technical/data signal is fine)

- - "cascade" as a metaphor for chain effects — "a cascade of consequences" (a literal cascade — water, CSS — is fine)

-

- Formal overreach — default to the word you'd say out loud. If you'd hesitate to use it in conversation with a friend, swap it for the simpler one. Plain words win almost everywhere; reach for the formal version only when it carries meaning the simple word can't:

- - "utilize" → "use"

- - "facilitate" → "help"

- - "demonstrate" → "show"

- - "commence" → "start"

- - "regarding" → "about"

- - "leverage" → "use"

- - "implement" → "do" / "build" / "run"

-

- Trailing participles — never end sentences with these:

- - "...highlighting the importance of"

- - "...ensuring that"

- - "...contributing to"

- - "...underscoring the need for"

- - "...demonstrating that"

-

- Rewrite as a separate sentence instead.

-

- ### Voice Rules

-

- Contractions — always

- "don't" not "do not", "it's" not "it is", "won't" not "will not", "can't" not "cannot". Uncontracted forms read as AI or legal text. More than 2 uncontracted forms per 500 words is a detectable signal.

-

- Sentence rhythm — dramatic variation

- Never write 3 consecutive sentences of similar length. Follow a 30-word analytical sentence with a 5-word one. Use fragments for emphasis. One-sentence paragraphs between dense ones. This is burstiness — humans write it naturally, AI doesn't.

-

- Good rhythm:

- > The algorithm processes every request through three validation layers before committing to state. That's by design. A single bad write corrupts the entire chain, and recovery is expensive.

-

- Bad rhythm (AI):

- > The algorithm processes every request through three validation layers. This ensures data integrity throughout the system. The design prevents corruption and reduces recovery costs.

-

- Don't rotate synonyms

- If "users" is the right word, keep saying "users." Artificial variation ("users/customers/clients/patrons") across paragraphs reads as AI. Pick the right word and stay with it.

-

- Don't reach for three

- Groups of three adjectives or phrases ("bold, innovative, and transformative") are a rhythm crutch, not a real pattern of thought. One precise word beats three approximate ones. Flag any triad and cut it to the single word that's actually true.

-

- Take a position

- Hedging or both-sides framing — "on one hand... on the other", "it depends", "there are pros and cons to both" — reads as AI avoiding commitment. If a real position exists underneath the hedge, state it. Uncertainty is fine when it's genuine ("the data is mixed here"); false balance when there's actually a right answer is not.

-

- Personal stake

- Occasional first-person: "I've seen this pattern in...", "What surprised me was...". Acknowledge genuine uncertainty: "The data is mixed here." Show emotional range: enthusiasm, skepticism, curiosity. These are human signals.

- Natural grammar breaks

- Start sentences with "And" or "But" when it flows. Use parenthetical commentary. Occasional fragments for emphasis. These are human patterns — don't avoid them.

- Active voice

- "Studies show X" not "X has been shown by studies." Flag passive constructions and rewrite to active unless passive is intentional for emphasis.

- Em-dashes — exception, used sparingly

- A single em-dash is natural human punctuation — people use them when thinking-while-writing. The AI signal isn't the em-dash itself, it's density. Three em-dashes in one paragraph reads as GPT default. Keep total use under ~1 em-dash per 100 words and mix punctuation: full stops, commas, parentheses, occasional em-dash. Don't strip them all out either — total absence is its own tell now (over-corrected humanization).

- Format follows the venue

- The shape of the text adapts to where it lives. The same idea looks different in a reply versus a long article, and getting that wrong is one of the loudest AI tells in 2026.

- - Replies and comments — prose. 1–4 sentences for most. No headers, no numbered lists, no bullet stacks, no bold mid-sentence. People don't write replies as slide decks; AI does by default. Match the surrounding chain — if everyone is writing 1-line lowercase replies, a 6-line structured response stands out as a bot.

- - Posts and threads — each post is a standalone piece of prose. No "1/12" markers, no "🧵", no thread-promo intros. Write each one like a single considered post.

- - Long articles, blogs, docs — structure is fine when it serves reading. Headers break sections that earn it; bullets handle truly enumerable lists (3+ genuinely parallel items); bold marks the rare phrase that needs marking. The test: strip the formatting — does the reader lose anything? If not, drop it.

- Lists, headers, and bold are cheap — they're what AI reaches for whenever it isn't sure what to write. Use them only when they earn their place.

- ### Transitions

- Don't use a transition when the logic is clear — just start the next idea. When you need one:

- ✅ "But." / "The problem is —" / "Here's what that looks like." / "Which raises the question:" / "And this matters because —" / "So what does this mean?" / "The catch?" / "Plus,"

- ❌ Never: "Furthermore," "Moreover," "Additionally," "Consequently," "It's worth noting"

- ### Conclusions

- Never open a conclusion with:

- - "In conclusion,"

- - "Overall,"

- - "In summary,"

- - "To summarize,"

- - "To wrap up,"

- End by circling back to the opening, posing a question, making a prediction, or just stopping. A conclusion that recaps all main points is an AI pattern.

- ## Examples

- ### Dead vocabulary replacement

- ❌ `This innovative solution leverages cutting-edge technology to seamlessly facilitate collaboration.`

- ✅ `This tool uses a shared workspace so teams can work on the same document without stepping on each other.`

- ### Rhythm fix

- ❌ `The system processes requests in parallel. This improves throughput significantly. Users experience faster response times as a result.`

- ✅ `The system processes requests in parallel, which improves throughput. Users notice it immediately. Pages that used to take 800ms now load in under 200.`

- ### Trailing participle fix

- ❌ `The update ships next week, highlighting the importance of backward compatibility.`

- ✅ `The update ships next week. Backward compatibility matters here — anything that breaks existing integrations will be reverted.`