cringe-checklisted

# Cringe Check Audit copy for the positioning moves that make a smart, qualified author look cocky or try-hard. This is a *tone and stance* check — it looks at how the author positions themselves relative to other people, the reader, and the truth. It does not touch sentence mechanics (that is the `ai-written-check` skill). The frame to hold: the strongest copy reads as a **generous collaborator who is genuinely good**, not a solo hero or a sage on a mountain. Most cringe comes from the author accidentally instrumentalizing other people or claiming more than they own. ## Register first Resolve the register the same way `full-review` does (`.red-pen/profile.md` → ask once → default `job-seeker`). Then read the register's `polarity.tone`: - **`overclaim`** (job-seeker): run the six dimensions below as written — the defect is swagger. - **`soften`** (publication): run them **inverted** — the defect is mush. For each dimension ask "did the edit make the author claim, feel, or say *less* than they wrote?" and use the register's `## Distortion watchlist` (hedges, de-cursing, expansion, formalization, apology framing, thesis dilution) as the hit list. Dimensions the register marks as not applicable are reported as "n/a for this register." ## How to run it Walk the six dimensions below. For each hit, output: the **dimension name**, the **offending line quoted**, and a **collaborator-voice rewrite**. Be specific — a real rewrite, not "soften this." ## The six dimensions **1.