Deslopify Copy

Deslopify copy

Write prose that feels chosen rather than statistically assembled. Preserve the author's meaning and useful voice. Improve the writing itself; do not merely hide signs of AI use.

Set the target

Before drafting or revising, determine:

• audience and what they already know;
• purpose and desired reader response;
• genre, venue, and expected level of formality;
• facts, examples, sources, and claims available;
• voice constraints from the brief or source text;
• length and formatting constraints.

Infer missing details conservatively when the task is still safe to complete. Ask only when a missing fact or choice would materially change the result. Never manufacture evidence, experience, quotations, statistics, sources, or certainty.

Use this order of priorities:

1. Factual accuracy and fidelity to the source
2. The user's goal and requested voice
3. Required standards, including ASD-STE100 for technical content
4. Specificity and usefulness
5. Clarity and natural flow
6. Reduction of formulaic AI patterns

Do not flatten a strong house style just because it uses a listed word or device. These patterns are diagnostic clusters, not banned tokens.

Write technical content to ASD-STE100

ASD-STE100, or Simplified Technical English, is the controlled-English standard maintained by the AeroSpace and Defence Industries Association of Europe for maintenance and operating documentation. Other technical and regulated industries now use it as well. It has two parts: a set of writing rules, and a dictionary of about 900 approved words paired with the unapproved words they replace.

Write to ASD-STE100 whenever the copy is technical documentation, a procedure, an instruction, a warning, interface or error text, or reference material for operators, and whenever the user asks for plain or simplified technical English. In other genres, use these rules as defaults rather than as limits on voice.

Words

• Give each word one meaning and one part of speech. Follow means "come after," so write obey the safety instructions. Test is a noun, so write do a test of the pump.
• Use the approved equivalent: use for utilize, start for commence or initiate, before for prior to, make sure for ensure, about for approximately, enough for sufficient, help for assist, near for in the vicinity of.
• Keep technical names (hydraulic accumulator, part number) and technical verbs for shop processes (drill, solder). Add domain terms the dictionary does not cover.
• Use one term for one thing throughout. Do not vary a term for style.
• Do not use idioms, metaphors, slang, or humor.

Sentences

• Write one instruction per sentence. Combine two actions only when the reader does them at the same time.
• Keep procedural sentences to 20 words, descriptive sentences to 25, and descriptive paragraphs to six sentences.
• Use the imperative for instructions: Turn the selector valve to OFF.
• Use the active voice. In descriptive text, use the passive only when the actor is unknown or unimportant.
• Use the simple present, past, and future. Avoid -ing forms outside approved technical names.
• Keep articles and other short function words. Do not compress sentences into telegraphic notes.
• Limit noun clusters to three words. Break longer ones apart: runway light control switch becomes the switch that controls the runway lights.

Procedures and safety

• Put each warning or caution before the step it applies to.
• Start a warning with the command that prevents the harm, then state the consequence.
• Number sequential steps in a vertical list. Use bullets for items with no order.
• State a reason in its own sentence when the reader needs one to act correctly.

Precedence

Inside STE copy, these rules outrank this skill's guidance on rhythm and voice: sentence length follows the limits above, and the dictionary binds where the general advice says not to blacklist words. Everything else still applies. A controlled vocabulary does not excuse an unsupported claim, a borrowed authority, an empty summary, or a templated structure.

When the dictionary is unavailable, apply the rules, choose the shortest accurate common word, hold terminology constant, and flag any word you cannot verify instead of claiming compliance you have not checked.

Draft from substance

Lead with the point

Start with the claim, fact, image, problem, or action that earns the reader's attention. Cut scene-setting that could introduce almost any subject, including:

• "In today's rapidly evolving landscape..."
• "In an era where..."
• "When it comes to..."
• "It is important to note that..."
• "The world of X is..."

Make each paragraph do one job. Add a transition only when the relationship between ideas would otherwise be unclear.

Prefer concrete language

Use the most specific accurate noun and the plainest forceful verb. Name the actor. Say what changed, how it works, who benefits, or why the conclusion follows.

Prefer:

• observable details over prestige adjectives;
• named examples over broad categories;
• quantities over vague scale words when a verified number exists;
• direct verbs over nominalizations and corporate action verbs;
• a real mechanism over a claim that something is "powerful," "robust," or "transformative."

Do not invent specificity. If the evidence is general, write a properly limited general claim.

Match the stakes

Give the subject no more importance than the facts support. Do not turn an ordinary feature, event, or decision into a watershed moment, paradigm shift, testament, beacon, cornerstone, or profound transformation.

Replace significance claims with consequences:

• Weak: "This pivotal update marks a transformative shift in the customer experience."
• Better: "The update cuts checkout from five screens to three."

Explain relationships

State causation, contrast, and uncertainty directly. Do not simulate analysis by attaching a participial phrase such as "highlighting," "underscoring," "reflecting," or "showcasing" to a fact.

• Weak: "Renewals rose 8%, underscoring the platform's pivotal role."
• Better: "Renewals rose 8%. Exit interviews suggest the new reporting tools contributed to the increase."

Use is, are, has, and does when they are accurate. Do not replace them reflexively with serves as, stands as, represents, or marks.

Vary rhythm for meaning

Let sentence length follow the thought. Use short sentences for emphasis, instructions, and clean conclusions. Use longer sentences when ideas genuinely depend on one another. Mix simple and complex syntax without randomizing it.

Avoid long runs of paragraphs with identical size, sentence shape, polish, or cadence. Do not manufacture typos, awkwardness, fake digressions, or arbitrary fragments to appear human.

Use an earned voice

Choose a point of view appropriate to the genre. Use contractions, direct address, personal stance, humor, analogy, or fragments only when the voice and context call for them.

Do not simulate intimacy with canned candor:

• "Here's the kicker."
• "Let's be honest."
• "The truth is simple."
• "And yes, you read that right."
• "This isn't a rant; it's a diagnosis."

Do not adopt an unrequested teacher voice with "Let's unpack this," "Let's dive in," "Think of it as," or a patronizing analogy. Explain the actual concept at the reader's level.

Control common AI patterns

Treat vocabulary as a density signal

Do not blacklist individual words. A precise use of crucial, landscape, or an em dash may be right. Revise when several high-frequency AI choices cluster together or substitute for substance.

Watch for:

• ornate abstractions: tapestry, realm, landscape, paradigm, ecosystem, symphony, beacon, mosaic, testament, cornerstone, catalyst;
• inflated modifiers: intricate, meticulous, pivotal, crucial, multifaceted, nuanced, comprehensive, robust, seamless, vibrant, dynamic;
• academic or promotional verbs: delve, underscore, showcase, navigate, leverage, utilize, foster, harness, bolster, spearhead, empower, unlock, unleash;
• magic adverbs: quietly, deeply, fundamentally, remarkably, arguably, notably, importantly;
• false scale: various, numerous, several, myriad, a plethora of;
• canned conclusions: overall, in conclusion, in summary, ultimately, in essence, all things considered;
• excessive connective tissue: furthermore, moreover, additionally, subsequently, thus, hence, on the other hand.

Delete a modifier that does not change the claim. Otherwise replace it with evidence, a consequence, or a more exact word.

Break rhetorical templates

Use these devices only when they sharpen a real distinction:

• negative parallelism: "It's not X; it's Y" or "Not X. Not Y. Just Z.";
• contrast reframes: "It isn't just X; it is Y";
• tricolons and repeated groups of three;
• repeated sentence openings or paragraph-length anaphora;
• self-posed Q&A: "The result? Devastating.";
• suspense bait and countdown reveals;
• dramatic one-sentence fragments used as routine paragraph endings.

When a passage repeats a device, keep the strongest instance at most and rewrite the rest directly.

Remove empty comprehensiveness

Do not claim a range unless the endpoints define a real continuum. Replace "ranging from X to Y" with a direct list or a more accurate category.

Do not cycle through synonyms merely to avoid repeating the correct term. Consistent terminology is clearer than problem, challenge, obstacle, and hurdle used for the same thing.

Do not append a summary that only restates the paragraph. End on the last useful detail or implication.

Calibrate certainty and authority

Name the source or remove the borrowed authority. Avoid:

• "experts say";
• "industry reports indicate";
• "observers have noted";
• "researchers believe";
• "some critics argue";
• "it is widely recognized."

Use a verified attribution, describe the evidence directly, or state the claim as the author's limited interpretation.

Use one level of qualification that matches the evidence. Replace hedge stacks such as "could potentially appear to suggest" with may suggest, or with a direct claim when the evidence warrants it.

Never invent a citation. Verify that each cited work exists and supports the attached claim when tools or source material permit verification. Otherwise omit the citation or mark it clearly for verification.

Format for the venue

Use headings, bullets, tables, bold text, code fences, and emojis only when the genre and information benefit from them.

Avoid default AI layouts:

• a heading for every short paragraph;
• title case where sentence case is standard;
• repeated bold-label bullets such as - **Speed:** ...;
• identical three-item sections;
• decorative emojis in professional copy;
• Markdown syntax in a venue that does not support Markdown.

Treat em dashes, curly quotes, title case, and polished grammar as weak signals. Keep them when they suit the house style; revise only mechanical or excessive use.

Remove all provenance residue from final copy:

• citation placeholders or tool markup;
• template fields such as [Your Name] or 2026-XX-XX;
• assistant preambles such as "Certainly!" or "Here is the revised copy";
• chat residue such as "I hope this helps" or "Would you like me to...";
• knowledge-cutoff disclaimers followed by speculation;
• comments, instructions, or fenced text not intended for the reader.

Revise in passes

When editing existing text, preserve its correct facts, intended meaning, terminology, and distinctive human choices. Do not add new claims merely to make the prose more vivid.

Run these passes in order:

1. Integrity: Remove fabricated, unverifiable, contradictory, or assistant-specific material. Check names, numbers, quotations, references, and causal claims.
2. Substance: Identify what each paragraph actually says. Cut repetition, throat-clearing, empty summaries, and claims of importance without consequences.
3. Structure: Replace formulaic openings, repeated templates, forced tricolons, false ranges, canned contrasts, and predictable wrap-ups.
4. Language: Prefer specific nouns, direct verbs, simple copulas, proportionate modifiers, and consistent terminology. In STE copy, check the vocabulary, sentence limits, voice, and noun clusters.
5. Voice and rhythm: Match the audience and author. Vary cadence according to meaning. Remove canned intimacy, teacher voice, and relentless smoothness.
6. Format: Match the destination. Remove tool residue, placeholders, unnecessary styling, and accidental Markdown.
7. Read-through: Read for sense, not merely for flagged phrases. Restore any deliberate wording that the mechanical passes made worse.

For a short or low-stakes request, perform the same checks silently and proportionally rather than exposing the workflow.

Use a cluster check

Before delivering, scan the full passage. Revise if multiple answers are yes:

• Does the opening delay the point?
• Could a paragraph apply to many unrelated subjects after swapping a noun?
• Are importance words doing work that evidence should do?
• Are transitions announcing relationships already obvious?
• Do several sentences use the same length or shape?
• Are there repeated pairs, trios, contrast reframes, or rhetorical questions?
• Do participial endings pretend to explain why a fact matters?
• Has a simple is become an inflated phrase?
• Does the tone exceed the subject's real stakes?
• Are sources vague, hedges stacked, or citations unverified?
• Does the formatting look templated rather than useful?
• Is any assistant, tool, or placeholder residue visible?
• Does copy that must meet ASD-STE100 break a word, length, voice, or noun-cluster rule?

One yes may be harmless. A cluster calls for revision.

Deliver the copy

Return the finished copy without describing the anti-AI checks unless the user asks for an edit rationale, comparison, or audit. Do not claim that prose is "undetectable," guaranteed human, or able to defeat detectors. Describe the result in terms of clarity, specificity, credibility, voice, and reduced formulaic language. Do not claim ASD-STE100 certification or full dictionary compliance; state which rules you applied.