The Skybus Rules of Flying
Before Skybus went out of business, it offered “The Skybus Rules of Flying” which used straight talk to explain how the airline kept prices low. Brave choice…perhaps too brave?

3. Bring a book. We’re not big fans of fancy in-flight entertainment systems. So grab that best seller at the airport, or buy a Sudoku puzzle onboard if you’re feeling brainy. You’ll touch down before you know it…

5. Don’t be late. We won’t wait. Please arrive no later than 30 minutes before takeoff, or we’ll leave without you. Really. By that time, there won’t even be anyone to check your bag. It’s nothing against you–we just have to keep our flights on time, or things get expensive in a hurry.

Slicehost
Slicehost goes for the “we’re just like you” angle at its homepage.

Built for developers
We’re just like you. Sick of oversold, underperforming, ancient hosting companies. We took matters into our own hands. We built a hosting company for people who know their stuff. Give us a box, give us bandwidth, give us performance and we get to work…

The Why Slicehost? part of the site goes on to explain why it’s not the right fit for everyone.

We aim to please developers – people who know their stuff. People who write software, build servers and get things done. If you’re new to web applications and hosting in general, we’re probably not the best choice for you. If you want the cheapest price, go to any of the volume driven web hosts with outsourced support. But if you know what needs to be done and want a host who will help you get there, you’re in the right place.

Accentuate the negative?
Copywriting Tips: Accentuate the Negative says you should leverage (don’t fight) the customer’s belief in compromise by addressing a product’s downsides head-on.

People are as likely to assume that a downside has a corresponding upside as vice versa. They’ll also gladly accept negative admissions, whereas they’d otherwise demand substantiation for positive claims. Combined, these two principles work magic. For example, take this lame and totally unsubstantiated claim for a made up photo printer:

“Our new IQ268 photo-quality printer produces the most stunning, nuanced black-and-white prints in the business.”

Credibility on that one? Zero. Now read this:

The ink for our new IQ268 printer costs more than the competition’s — 30% more, on average. In addition to the normal five ink tones everyone else uses, our printer uses two extra gray-scale inks, exclusively for printing monochrome photos. Why the expensive ink? Because, without it, the IQ268 wouldn’t produce the most stunning black-and-white prints in the business.

Since the reader automatically accepts the negative admission, they become more likely to accept the implied upside. Does mentioning the extra grey-scale inks help, too? Sure, but only insofar as it’s linked to better picture quality. That association is more likely to be accepted coming on the heals of an admission. In other words, the downside still highlights the upside by contrast, making the bigger claims that much more believable.

Constraints force brevity
In No Resistance Is Futile, Paul Ford talks about how constraints (write without the letter “e”; use only one-syllable words; make every sentence exactly N words) can force you out of windbaggery.

Now when I face a new writing project, I open a spreadsheet. I want a grid to keep track of sources and dates, or to make certain that the timeline of a story makes sense. The grid imposes brevity. Relationships between sentences are exposed. Editing becomes a more explicit act of sorting, shuffling, balancing paragraphs. In this spirit, I’m rewriting some blog software to read directly from Excel. We’ll see how that goes.

Related: Albert Einstein’s Theory of Relativity In Words of Four Letters or Less

It’s not “I have a nightmare”
In Challenges to Both Left and Right on Global Warming, a pair of young environmental thinkers argue that gloom and doom environmental messages will fail if applied to global warming.

Instead they call for an aggressive effort to invest in energy research, while also building societies that can be resilient in the face of the warming that is already unavoidable.

In a recent interview, Mr. Shellenberger reprised a central point of the essay and book. “Martin Luther King didn’t give the ‘I have a nightmare’ speech, he gave an ‘I have a dream’ speech,” Mr. Shellenberger said. “We need a politics that is positive and that inspires people around an exciting and inspiring vision.”

Get hated
Polarize Me says, “If you want people to like you, first decide who needs to hate you.”

As a dater on Match.com, you have two key ways to communicate something quickly about yourself: a picture and a headline. The pic, of course, should embrace the social norm and be from 10 years and 20 pounds ago.

With the headline, you can start from scratch. Given the stakes, these headlines should really zing. They don’t. We examined more than 1,000 Match.com ads—from men and women, old and young. Our search yielded headlines like this one: “Hey.” Folks, if your opening line is “Hey,” you better be hot.

Another said “Looking for love.” Well, duh, you’re on Match.com. At least two-thirds of the headlines said nothing—and did it poorly.

Why do these headlines suck so much? Fear. Fear of saying too much. Fear of saying something clever that someone might think is stupid. Fear of saying something revealing that might turn someone off. The headlines try desperately not to exclude anyone. In doing so, they succeed at boring everyone.

John Gruber interview
“A Mix of the Technical, the Artful, the Thoughtful, and the Absurd” is an interesting interview with the Daring Fireball writer.

Here Gruber talks about how it’s a challenge to write things with lasting value:

Concentrate on writing things with lasting value. I’m not sure I’ve been doing a good job of this at all lately — I think too much of what I write currently at DF is about stuff that’s only relevant right now. I’m certain that what helped me make a name for myself, what built the DF readership, were the long pieces I did in the first few years, most of which are still relevant, or at least still interesting. There are a lot of people writing for the web today; but there aren’t that many at all who are trying to do great writing for the web.

After a while, the style part of the equation comes naturally:

That’s hard to put into words. Early on, I had to think about my “voice”. I was conscious of my style. Now, not so much — I “just write”, and the style seems to come naturally. Part of that is that you get used to anything over time, but a bigger part is that the style changed slowly over time — I kept tweaking it until I found the perfect pitch, at which point it became something I didn’t have to think about to achieve.

Put another way: early on, I had to concentrate both on what I was saying and how was I saying it. Now I just concentrate on what I’m saying.

I also find it much easier to write now that I have a regular audience. The hardest thing for me starting out at the very beginning was trying to shake the feeling that I was writing something no one would read. It felt like delivering a speech in an empty auditorium.

Create a narrative:

For me, much of the effort in writing, especially on technical topics, is in creating a narrative. By that I mean writing a piece that reads straight through, pulling the reader along. A perfect example of this is the way John Siracusa writes his epic-length reviews of major new Mac OS X releases for Ars Technica. What makes them so substantial, and so good, is that he crafts them into a narrative. Most reviews of something like Leopard read like bullet lists — a list of features and what the reviewer thinks about them. What graphic design is to a visual idea, writing is to a verbal idea. My goal is to craft my writing in such a way that makes it as easy and obvious as possible for the reader to “get” exactly what it is I’m hoping they get.

On finding the truth of a thing:

One of my favorite quotes of all time, probably my very favorite, is this one from Stanley Kubrick: “Sometimes the truth of a thing is not so much in the think of it, as in the feel of it.” A lot of times when I’m reviewing something, what I’m trying to do is capture the feel of it, rather than the think of it.

It’s never the right time to start:

It would seem like a missed opportunity never to write a book. Most novels are just dreadful; I don’t know if I could do a good one, but I know I could do better than most. But it never seems like the right time to start. I just stumbled across an apt quote from Emerson last week: “We postpone our literary work until we have more ripeness and skill to write, and we one day discover that our literary talent was a youthful effervescence which we have now lost.”

Paul Graham on “The Art of the Essay”
In that interview, Gruber references this Paul Graham essay which is full of meaty thinking on writing.

Sometimes people use important-sounding words to seem more impressive. Sometimes they use complex sentence structures too. Check out this opening line from an email we received:

[Redacted] creates the conditions for experimentation and quantitative understanding of the impact of novel management practices in large companies.

The sentence is structured like this: “We create _____ for _____ and _____ of _____ of _____ in _____.” It’s tough to have anything make sense within that structure.

Unsurprisingly, the rest of the email goes on to mention terms like strategic planning, competitive intelligence, thought partners, management behavior, orthodoxies, and change management.

Then it ends with, “Let me know your thoughts.” Er, I think I’m not sure what you’re trying to say.

Yesterday I got an email from a biz dev guy at a company that syncs data between different applications from different companies.

This was the first line of the email:

I work for an enterprise level integration company that is looking to attack the long tail of the market for point to point integration solutions.

Delete.

CBS News Forums
Scott Schwartz pointed out some interesting copy at the CBS News site. This is the text that precedes the comments section of a story:

Now you’re in the public comment zone. What follows is not CBS News stuff; it comes from other people and we don’t vouch for it. A reminder: By using this Web site you agree to accept our Terms of Service. Click here to read the Rules of Engagement.

Simple and to the point. And here’s the Rules Of Engagement:

People who want to post comments on CBSNews.com are going to have to follow our rules. We know that not all forums are like that, but this one is.

There’s legal language nearby. Here’s the plain English: no libel, slander, no lying, no fabricating, no swearing at all, no words that teenagers use a lot that some people think aren’t swearing but we do, no insulting groups or individuals, no ethnic slurs and/or epithets, no religious bigotry, no threats of any kind, no bathroom humor, no comparing anyone to Hitler, Stalin or Pol Pot. We expect heated, robust debate, but comments should be polite and civil. We consider this to be public space so behave and write accordingly.

Yes, what is not allowable is subjective. CBSNews.com absolutely reserve the right to remove posts we think break any of the rules or the spirit of the rules and we reserve the right to ban individuals from commenting. We will use language filtering programs to block certain words and we will use human editing too.

Comments should be limited to the topic of the original posting. This is not the place for private conversations, no matter how innocent.

We require everyone who comments to register and provide a real e-mail address. No exceptions. And posting comments is not the same thing as complaining to CBS News or notifying CBS News of a problem – legally, there’s a big difference.

Very important: if you see a comment that you feel is inappropriate, let us know by clicking on the “comment complaint” or “report this complaint” button.

As Scott says, “Legalese be gone. And they know Godwin’s Law to boot!”

Peerless Faucet instructions
François Beausoleil writes: “I just bought a Peerless faucet, and they have instructions on how to uninstall your existing one.” (Viewable at FaucetCoach.com.)

Gym Jones
The Colonel writes: “Simply amazing. These are the guys that trained the cast of 300… brutally.

Tasty bits:

Gym Jones is not a cozy place. There’s no AC, no comfortable spot to sit and there are no mirrors. Stressors are intentionally designed to cause discomfort and apprehension. Effort and pain may not be avoided. Physical and psychological breakdowns occur…

Gym Jones is private and isolated from the modern fitness ideal precisely because we believe that attitude to be poison. We believe that a proper training facility is separated from the complacency of the general public, and has its own set of rules and values. We believe that nothing of value maybe acquired by simply going through the motions; real fitness is earned…

From its birth in December 2003 Gym Jones has followed the Fight Club model of “free to all” though not all are invited. Those who are do not pay. No one may buy their way in or buy anything associated with the project. The original model will exist in a back room under my guidance whether we open other doors to the public or not.

Last but not least, a photo of the original gym.”

Moosejaw
Caryn Rose writes: “Check out the text in this order status update. What a refreshing change from the normal ‘DO NOT REPLY TO THIS EMAIL’ bs. All of this merchant’s communications have the same spirit and tone. I’ll definitely remember them, and order from them again.”

The kind of help wanted ad you write can help determine what kind of applicants you get. Write an honest, thoughtful, clear ad and you’re more likely to hear from candidates with those qualities. Spout a lot of buzzwordy nonsense and you’ll attract people fluent in bullshit.

We talked about this a year ago in A tale of two job ads and I was reminded of it again when Guy Kawasaki posted How to Not Hire Someone Via Craigslist. He remarks about the need to keep it real in job listings…

Write honest job descriptions for honest job titles. Don’t try to entice candidates with promises of greater responsibilities or opportunities than is true. And don’t delude yourself: If the cat drags in over-qualified candidate, are you really going to expand the job?

An example of a thoughtful, honest help wanted post: Software company Jackson Fish Market’s Four Realizations about Hiring. An excerpt:

As much as deep technical skills are critical for us, the most successful working relationships we’ve had over the past few months have been with folks who are incredibly professional, disciplined, focused, and leave their egos at the door. Attitude comes first.

The whole post is written in that tone. The first comment in response: “Wow! You guys sure know how to write a job ad!”

Kawasaki also wisely points out the job search works both ways, and that ads should reflect that.

Sell. Almost every help-wanted ad focuses on buying, not selling—that is, the qualifications that candidates have to meet and the fences that they have to jump over. However, in the war for talent, this is ass backwards. This ad, for example, should mention things like “award-winning shop,” “work alongside famous designers,” “interesting projects for Disney, Apple, and Audi.”

An example of a good (and amusing) sell job: Meetup’s doc on Working at Google vs. Working at Meetup.

I recently tripped over some fields on this sign-up form:

“If no, please type DNA” so naturally I start typing ATCG AATT CCTC TATT GTTG GATC ATAT… (rim shot!)

I figure DNA means “Does Not Apply,” but it’s also strange that answering “No” to the form question above still requires manual entry into the field below. This “No” then “type DNA” sequence shows up twice on the form. It’s odd, unfamiliar, and confusing. If anything, “n/a” would probably be recognized by more people than “DNA.”

When you build your forms be clear. Think about what you’re asking, why you’re asking, how you’re asking for it, and where you’re asking for it. All these little things matter—especially on long forms. Minor issues on long forms begin to stack up pretty quickly. Remember, copywriting is interface design.

Slimmy
The funny copy for Slimmy explains it is not for people with a “George Castanza wallet.”

STYLE WARNING: This wallet is not a magic trick.

If you have a “George Castanza wallet,” with over 10 credit cards, pictures of distant relatives, and 5 years of financial records, you WILL NOT be able to magically conceal the same contents in the Slimmy.

The Slimmy experience is about security, comfort and minimalism. Carry only what you need so that you are less exposed to theft, less emcumbered, and look better…

A Slimmy can help, but you have to want to change.

Mosso
The Mosso Story talks about how the company’s founders decided to scratch their own itch.

We were a two-man operation: a graphic artist and a web developer. Everyone said that for the sites we wanted to create, we really needed to get our own server and spend the time to manage it. But to us, that was as crazy as saying that to sell t-shirts online, we had to spend our time driving a Mack truck doing the deliveries. There had to be a better way to host our projects. Right?

We started Mosso because we knew there were others like us: other web agencies who wanted to promise their clients that their websites and email would work—always work—without being the ones responsible for all the technology.