I probed my own AI‑writing linter 16 ways. The first probe lied to me.

Description and use

The author probed an AI writing linter and discovered it deduplicates words, ignores code blocks, and reads HTML comments, contradicting initial density assumptions. Moving the word list out of draft comments and adjusting score interpretation resolved false positives.

Problem

Relying on an AI‑writing linter without understanding its scoring logic led to incorrect assumptions about word usage and content filtering.

Outcome

The linter deduplicates flagged words, does not strip code, and reads HTML comments, contradicting initial density‑based assumptions. Adjusting the word list location and score interpretation resolved false positives.

Workflow

• Write a test string to a file
• Run the scanner script and capture output
• Parse score and flag count from output
• Repeat with varying word counts and contexts
• Analyze results to understand scoring logic
• Move word list to external file
• Adjust how scores are interpreted

Evidence

The detector flags a specific set of filler words. leverage is on it, so it is my test particle.

Source

It deduplicates. Five occurrences cost exactly what one costs: score 3 either way.

Source

It does not strip code. The word inside a fenced block scored the same as the word in plain prose.

Source