reply-opener

An advisory by default: it explains, and blocks nothing, on a sentence of a review reply that opens by contradicting ("No,", "As I said").

What it catches

A sentence of a review reply that opens by contradicting ("No,", "As I said").

Dimension

stance: the text reads as a verdict on a person, or as addressed to someone else. A finding is counted on the dimension of its rule, the cost it names to the reader.

Why

A contradiction first reads as winning an argument whatever follows it. Measured 2026-10-11 over the adjudicated labeling round: 44.2% precision (19 of 43) before, 95.0% (19 of 20) after. "Wrong" counts only as an exclamation, not before a noun ("Wrong indentation"), and a "No," answering the question the reply quotes, or conceding ("good catch"), is left alone. Labeling round 3 measured 21 of 40, a lower bound of 0.37, which each graded finding weighs.

Default decision

The code is PRF8001. The decision depends on the kind of text judged:

Changing it

A decisions table sets this rule to deny, advise or off, for everything judged or for the files a glob matches. Proofread reads the table from the file its -decisions flag names:

{
  "rules": {"reply-opener": "deny"},
  "paths": {"blog/**": {"reply-opener": "off"}}
}

rules applies to every file. A glob in paths applies to the files it matches, and the last match wins. A rule set to off never reports.

Seeing it

A finding names the rule, its code and the decision that applies, and links here:

{"rule": "reply-opener", "code": "PRF8001", "decision": "advise", "url": "https://eli.gladman.cc/magus/reference/proofread/reply-opener/"}

proofread rules prints this entry with every other rule's.

See also

• All proofread rules - every rule, grouped by what it checks
• Writing rules - how the rules apply to this repository's pages and pull requests
• The findings contract - the fields every finding carries