humanize-writinglisted

# Humanize Writing ## The core idea: fix causes, not symptoms Text reads as "AI-written" because of *underlying habits*, not because of any single banned word. The real problems are almost always one of these: - **Vagueness** dressed up as substance (claims that could apply to any subject). - **Padding** that inflates importance or adds analysis nothing in the source supports. - **Mechanical uniformity** (every paragraph the same shape, every list the same format, the same three or four transition words). - **Tonal drift** toward brochure or travel-guide enthusiasm. - **Register leaks** where chatbot-to-user conversational habits bleed into the text. So the goal is genuinely better writing, not find-and-replace. If you delete "delve" but leave the vague, padded sentence it sat in, you've only made the problem harder to see. Fix the sentence and the tell disappears on its own. **Two hard rules while humanizing:** 1. **Preserve meaning and accuracy.** Never invent a specific fact, date, source, or bit of color to replace a vague claim — this is the rule most tempting to break, because a fabricated detail *feels* human. If a claim is empty, cut it or find a real specific from the source; don't manufacture one. This applies just as hard when *generating* prose in the user's voice: "specificity over generality" means using the specifics the user gave you, not inventing config values, incidents, or biographical details about their situation that they never stated. Keep genuin