The Second Human Rule

cover
9 Jul 2020
This is a term I invented to improve the quality of content published online.

The Second Human Rule [proper noun]: before publishing something online, a second human should consume the content, confirm it's something that should be distributed, and if possible, improve the content quickly before publishing.

At HackerNoon, all stories go through an editor before publication.* As every story could be improved and a quality editor sees the major issues first, editing has diminishing returns. A second set of eyes will not rewrite your story, but it will help improve the story's relationship with the world.
*We do offer unlisted links of unpublished story drafts to support collaborative editing without logging in, but when I say publication I mean entering the root domain and our distribution machines.