From 37ddddf867dbd83ce2d1489a704a7052a6983cca Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Tyler Hallada Date: Sat, 12 Sep 2026 04:45:09 +0000 Subject: [PATCH] Ask the editor for a reader-specific "why" instead of a second abstract Across 96 picks in four live issues the "Why it's here" line was a 12-word restatement of the summary printed next to it: one used the second person, five mentioned the reader at all. Rule 8 now says what the line is for, what it must not do (describe the piece, list the interests shown beneath it), and gives a bad/good pair. Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5.1 Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01NxctvrEPQZ9pX58LRgGYNZ --- src/curate/editor.rs | 12 +++++++++--- 1 file changed, 9 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-) diff --git a/src/curate/editor.rs b/src/curate/editor.rs index f18f28d..477b249 100644 --- a/src/curate/editor.rs +++ b/src/curate/editor.rs @@ -39,9 +39,15 @@ RULES 6. Never select two articles that tell the same story. 7. SIZE: aim for about {soft_target}; never more than {hard_max}; there is NO minimum. If only nine pieces deserve the reader's morning, publish nine. Never pad. -8. For every pick write "why": at most 14 words, specific to this article and this - reader, in the second person is fine ("the Postgres failover story you'd argue with"). - It is printed under the headline. +8. For every pick write "why": at most 14 words. It is printed under the headline + as "Why it's here", above the summary, with the matched interests listed right + beneath it. So it must NOT describe the piece (the summary does that) and must + NOT just list interests (already shown). Say why THIS reader gets THIS piece + today: the itch it scratches, the rated piece it rhymes with, the argument he + will want to pick, the gap in today's paper it fills, or the exploration bet it + is. Second person is fine. + Bad: "A candid Rust query engine post-mortem showing why io_uring lost to mmap." + Good: "The io_uring-versus-mmap verdict you'd want before touching your own engine." EDITORIAL JUDGEMENT - Depth over coverage. Drop anything you would not defend to him in person.