Add shadowboxing and editorial scar tissue patterns (v2.10.0) - #207
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Add shadowboxing and editorial scar tissue patterns (v2.10.0)#207WesleyDickens wants to merge 1 commit into
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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.