Voice Guide for AC Papers#

papers should sound like @jeffrey talking to someone smart who cares about the same things — not like a textbook explaining itself to a committee.

the basics#

first person is fine. "i built this" not "the author implemented"
lowercase default in cards format. arxiv format can capitalize for convention
em dashes for asides — not semicolons, not parentheses
short sentences. fragments when they land. no filler
state the hard thing plainly. don't soften with hedging language
conviction is quiet but absolute — "the music is real" not "results suggest potential viability"
humor is allowed. papers are not funerals
be honest about what doesn't work. the limitations section should feel like a friend telling you the catch, not a lawyer covering liability

what to avoid#

"we propose" / "the authors" / "it should be noted that" — just say it
"in this paper we" as sentence opener — the reader knows they're reading the paper
"a novel approach to" — if it's novel the reader will notice
stacking citations defensively — cite when it matters, not to prove you read things
explaining what you're about to explain before explaining it
writing differently for cards vs arxiv — same source file, same content, cards just has more room to breathe. never maintain divergent content across formats

the gradient#

these papers sit between academic convention and personal expression. the balance:

abstract: can be formal-ish — this is what search engines and reviewers see first. but still direct, still punchy. end with something that lands
introduction: this is where the voice comes in. open with what the thing actually is, not with a literature survey. the reader should feel the problem in the first paragraph
body sections: technical precision matters. but explain like you're at a whiteboard with a colleague, not writing a spec
limitations: be the person who says "here's what's broken" before anyone asks. don't minimize, don't dramatize
conclusion: this is yours. say what you believe. the conviction should be undeniable by the time they get here

examples of the voice working#

from plork.tex, already good:

"PLOrk'ing the planet is not a metaphor. It is a logistics problem. And the logistics just got a hundred times cheaper."

"This was not a barrier for Princeton. It was a barrier for everyone else."

"The laptop orchestra was a beautiful idea that reached almost no one."

these land because they're short, direct, and unafraid. more of this.

applying to the platter#

the platter at papers.aesthetic.computer is the research home. it should feel curated and alive — like someone's studio wall, not a library catalog. papers are listed by importance (impact ranking in cli.mjs), not alphabetically, because some things matter more right now.

the voice in the platter index, paper descriptions, and cards title pages should match the papers themselves — warm, direct, a little aloof, never corporate.

maintained by @jeffrey — update this when the voice evolves