Add shadowboxing and editorial scar tissue patterns (v2.10.0) - #207
Open
WesleyDickens wants to merge 1 commit into
Open
Add shadowboxing and editorial scar tissue patterns (v2.10.0)#207WesleyDickens wants to merge 1 commit into
WesleyDickens wants to merge 1 commit into
Conversation
4 tasks
edithatogo
added a commit
to edithatogo/authentext
that referenced
this pull request
Aug 11, 2026
## Outcome Continues editorial safety Phase 3 with the shadowboxing / scar tissue slice from upstream PR #207 and issue #198. Both surfaces fold into Pattern 38 (invisible-history residue) instead of minting Pattern 41. Pattern 23 gains hedging accumulation. Revision guidance is rewrite-from-the-point, not phrase-patching. - Pattern 38: diff-anchored writing, shadowboxing, and editorial scar tissue as one defect. Detection uses in-text signals (meta-level, unattributed, dropped in-sentence, topic appears nowhere else), not the cold-reader test. - Claim preservation: restate smuggled positions affirmatively; delete only pure not-X clauses. Object-level negations stay. - Pattern 23: iterative editing stacks fairness clauses until every conclusion reads as negotiated. One honest qualifier at most. - Seven-item false-positive guard: scoping statements, legal/safety disclaimers, real misconception corrections, attributed or engaged objections, FAQs/replies, voice-bearing asides, and steelmanned or genuinely tempting alternatives. - Catalog stays at 40 patterns. SKILL.md is 341 lines. ## Evidence - [x] Generated outputs are synchronized where applicable. `npm run sync` (SKILL.md 341 lines) - [x] Validation, lint, tests, and audit appropriate to this change pass. `npm run validate`; focused `test/editorial-safety-phase3c.test.js`; pre-commit ran the full Node suite (218 tests) and sync/docs checks - [x] Technical literals, URLs, paths, identifiers, and code remain intact. - [x] No release, publication, credential, or external-service action is implied. ## Scope Track: `editorial-safety-invariants_20260811` / [#276](#276). Adopts the substance of [upstream PR #207](blader/humanizer#207). Does not close #276. Remaining Phase 3 work: vague `This` + mechanical scan ([upstream #196](blader/humanizer#196)). Phase 3 checkpoint and Phase 4 decision-log refresh stay later. Made with [Cursor](https://cursor.com) --------- Co-authored-by: Dylan Mordaunt (ISLHD) <Dylan.Mordaunt@health.nsw.gov.au> Co-authored-by: Cursor <cursoragent@cursor.com>
This file contains hidden or bidirectional Unicode text that may be interpreted or compiled differently than what appears below. To review, open the file in an editor that reveals hidden Unicode characters.
Learn more about bidirectional Unicode characters
Sign up for free
to join this conversation on GitHub.
Already have an account?
Sign in to comment
Add this suggestion to a batch that can be applied as a single commit.This suggestion is invalid because no changes were made to the code.Suggestions cannot be applied while the pull request is closed.Suggestions cannot be applied while viewing a subset of changes.Only one suggestion per line can be applied in a batch.Add this suggestion to a batch that can be applied as a single commit.Applying suggestions on deleted lines is not supported.You must change the existing code in this line in order to create a valid suggestion.Outdated suggestions cannot be applied.This suggestion has been applied or marked resolved.Suggestions cannot be applied from pending reviews.Suggestions cannot be applied on multi-line comments.Suggestions cannot be applied while the pull request is queued to merge.Suggestion cannot be applied right now. Please check back later.
Fixes #198.
Adds two patterns for drafting-conversation residue: prose that leans on context only the drafting session had, so it reads defensive or digressive to a cold reader.
Pattern 34: Shadowboxing (Defending Against Unraised Objections)
The pattern from #198: meta-level negations about the piece's own aims or the author's intent ("This isn't mainly about X", "I'm not arguing Y") that answer objections nobody in the published text raised.
Two changes from the issue as filed:
Pattern 35: Editorial Scar Tissue (Phantom Alternatives)
A sibling with the same root cause and a different surface: mid-argument, the text rebuts a "tempting" alternative no reader would consider, drops it, then does it again later on an unrelated tangent. The alternative is usually the model's own corrected mistake, recycled as a strawman — a scar from the drafting conversation, where the option was live until a human killed it. Tells: attributed to no one, appears nowhere else in the piece, dismissed in a clause or two.
The general test, which covers both patterns: if you can explain which previous edit caused a sentence to exist, rather than what new information it contributes, it's scar tissue.
Together with §30 (diff-anchored writing), these cover the three ways text leans on invisible history: commit history, drafting objections, and corrected mistakes.
False-positive guards
"This isn't about X" in the wild is usually legitimate, so both patterns come with guards in "What NOT to flag": scoping statements ("This guide does not cover Windows"), legal and safety disclaimers, corrections of misconceptions readers actually hold, attributed or engaged objections, replies and FAQs that answer someone by design, voice-bearing asides, and alternatives a reader would actually reach for (design docs weighing real options, tutorials warning against genuinely tempting mistakes, essays that steelman).
Related changes
python3 scripts/validate-package.pypasses; SKILL.md is at 438 of the 500-line budget.