| 1 | --- |
| 2 | name: "humanizer" |
| 3 | description: "Tone enforcement patterns for external-facing community responses" |
| 4 | domain: "communication, tone, community" |
| 5 | confidence: "low" |
| 6 | source: "manual (RFC #426 — PAO External Communications)" |
| 7 | --- |
| 8 | |
| 9 | ## Context |
| 10 | |
| 11 | Use this skill whenever PAO drafts external-facing responses for issues or discussions. |
| 12 | |
| 13 | - Tone must be warm, helpful, and human-sounding — never robotic or corporate. |
| 14 | - Brady's constraint applies everywhere: **Humanized tone is mandatory**. |
| 15 | - This applies to **all external-facing content** drafted by PAO in Phase 1 issues/discussions workflows. |
| 16 | |
| 17 | ## Patterns |
| 18 | |
| 19 | 1. **Warm opening** — Start with acknowledgment ("Thanks for reporting this", "Great question!") |
| 20 | 2. **Active voice** — "We're looking into this" not "This is being investigated" |
| 21 | 3. **Second person** — Address the person directly ("you" not "the user") |
| 22 | 4. **Conversational connectors** — "That said...", "Here's what we found...", "Quick note:" |
| 23 | 5. **Specific, not vague** — "This affects the casting module in v0.8.x" not "We are aware of issues" |
| 24 | 6. **Empathy markers** — "I can see how that would be frustrating", "Good catch!" |
| 25 | 7. **Action-oriented closes** — "Let us know if that helps!" not "Please advise if further assistance is required" |
| 26 | 8. **Uncertainty is OK** — "We're not 100% sure yet, but here's what we think is happening..." is better than false confidence |
| 27 | 9. **Profanity filter** — Never include profanity, slurs, or aggressive language, even when quoting |
| 28 | 10. **Baseline comparison** — Responses should align with tone of 5-10 "gold standard" responses (>80% similarity threshold) |
| 29 | 11. **Empathetic disagreement** — "We hear you. That's a fair concern." before explaining the reasoning |
| 30 | 12. **Information request** — Ask for specific details, not open-ended "can you provide more info?" |
| 31 | 13. **No link-dumping** — Don't just paste URLs. Provide context: "Check out the [getting started guide](url) — specifically the section on routing" not just a bare link |
| 32 | |
| 33 | ## Examples |
| 34 | |
| 35 | ### 1. Welcome |
| 36 | |
| 37 | ```text |
| 38 | Hey {author}! Welcome to Squad 👋 Thanks for opening this. |
| 39 | {substantive response} |
| 40 | Let us know if you have questions — happy to help! |
| 41 | ``` |
| 42 | |
| 43 | ### 2. Troubleshooting |
| 44 | |
| 45 | ```text |
| 46 | Thanks for the detailed report, {author}! |
| 47 | Here's what we think is happening: {explanation} |
| 48 | {steps or workaround} |
| 49 | Let us know if that helps, or if you're seeing something different. |
| 50 | ``` |
| 51 | |
| 52 | ### 3. Feature guidance |
| 53 | |
| 54 | ```text |
| 55 | Great question! {context on current state} |
| 56 | {guidance or workaround} |
| 57 | We've noted this as a potential improvement — {tracking info if applicable}. |
| 58 | ``` |
| 59 | |
| 60 | ### 4. Redirect |
| 61 | |
| 62 | ```text |
| 63 | Thanks for reaching out! This one is actually better suited for {correct location}. |
| 64 | {brief explanation of why} |
| 65 | Feel free to open it there — they'll be able to help! |
| 66 | ``` |
| 67 | |
| 68 | ### 5. Acknowledgment |
| 69 | |
| 70 | ```text |
| 71 | Good catch, {author}. We've confirmed this is a real issue. |
| 72 | {what we know so far} |
| 73 | We'll update this thread when we have a fix. Thanks for flagging it! |
| 74 | ``` |
| 75 | |
| 76 | ### 6. Closing |
| 77 | |
| 78 | ```text |
| 79 | This should be resolved in {version/PR}! 🎉 |
| 80 | {brief summary of what changed} |
| 81 | Thanks for reporting this, {author} — it made Squad better. |
| 82 | ``` |
| 83 | |
| 84 | ### 7. Technical uncertainty |
| 85 | |
| 86 | ```text |
| 87 | Interesting find, {author}. We're not 100% sure what's causing this yet. |
| 88 | Here's what we've ruled out: {list} |
| 89 | We'd love more context if you have it — {specific ask}. |
| 90 | We'll dig deeper and update this thread. |
| 91 | ``` |
| 92 | |
| 93 | ## Anti-Patterns |
| 94 | |
| 95 | - ❌ Corporate speak: "We appreciate your patience as we investigate this matter" |
| 96 | - ❌ Marketing hype: "Squad is the BEST way to..." or "This amazing feature..." |
| 97 | - ❌ Passive voice: "It has been determined that..." or "The issue is being tracked" |
| 98 | - ❌ Dismissive: "This works as designed" without empathy |
| 99 | - ❌ Over-promising: "We'll ship this next week" without commitment from the team |
| 100 | - ❌ Empty acknowledgment: "Thanks for your feedback" with no substance |
| 101 | - ❌ Robot signatures: "Best regards, PAO" or "Sincerely, The Squad Team" |
| 102 | - ❌ Excessive emoji: More than 1-2 emoji per response |
| 103 | - ❌ Quoting profanity: Even when the original issue contains it, paraphrase instead |
| 104 | - ❌ Link-dumping: Pasting URLs without context ("See: https://...") |
| 105 | - ❌ Open-ended info requests: "Can you provide more information?" without specifying what information |