## Claim When a draft contains a claim with no verifiable fact behind it, the fix is to cut the line, not to rephrase it into better-sounding language — rewording ungrounded content just produces more polished emptiness. ## Evidence Source: [[3. Resources/Literature Notes/Writing AI Outreach Emails That Don't Sound Like AI (Benjamin)]] — Benjamin's before/after outreach-email demo, where a maker-checker workflow flags empty flattery ("I truly believe there is a huge chance to unlock its full potential") and removes it entirely rather than smoothing it over, replacing it with a specific, checkable fact instead. > [!quote] > words with no facts do not get better words, they get cut ## Scope & conditions - Holds wherever a review/edit pass is checking machine- or human-drafted text against a "does this claim have a verifiable fact behind it" standard — outreach copy, marketing claims, résumé bullets, testimonial-style writing. - Breaks down where the unsupported line is doing acknowledged rhetorical work rather than claiming a fact (e.g., a disclosed opinion, a stylistic flourish clearly marked as such) — the rule targets claims dressed as evidence, not all unadorned prose. - Requires the review pass to actually distinguish "flattering but fact-free" from "flattering and fact-based" — a checker that can't tell the difference will either over-delete honest color or under-catch disguised emptiness. ## Links - [[3. Resources/Literature Notes/Writing AI Outreach Emails That Don't Sound Like AI (Benjamin)]] — evidence-for: the source talk and its before/after demo. - [[3. Resources/Permanent Notes/A Style Rule Only Works If a Draft Can Be Checked Against It]] — extends: this is one concrete, checkable rule ("if no fact, cut it") of the kind that note argues style guidance needs to be. - [[3. Resources/Permanent Notes/Spec-Driven Development Turns Throwaway Prompts Into Durable System Memory]] — applies-in: this rule is exactly the kind of durable, checkable constraint that belongs in a persisted skill/spec rather than a one-off prompt. <!-- atomicity: 1 idea ✓ --> - [[3. Resources/MOCs/Evidence & Claims Literacy MOC]] — applies-in: Applies a fact-behind-every-claim test to drafts, which is claims literacy.