I work in an industry setting and there’s a guideline when writing standard operating practices to use positive voice. That is to say, write what the operator should do, not what they shouldn’t. Because when you tell them what not to do, you’re also planting in their brain the instruction to do the thing you don’t want them to.
Sadly, this guideline fails to follow itself, and is often ignored.
![What did I tell you about dabbling in the dark arts? [Extra Ordinary Comics]](https://lemmus.org/pictrs/image/d384a710-1886-4adc-9a90-1d6f8e36dc74.webp){kind=link}
Technically, you can’t say “don’t do it” without saying “do it”
I work in an industry setting and there’s a guideline when writing standard operating practices to use positive voice. That is to say, write what the operator should do, not what they shouldn’t. Because when you tell them what not to do, you’re also planting in their brain the instruction to do the thing you don’t want them to.
Sadly, this guideline fails to follow itself, and is often ignored.