Retitle sins to name the problem plainly

Titles are scanned in the gallery and recognized in a link, so they
should say what the sin is rather than pun about it. Retitles the three
published sins and the backlog's working titles, and records the rule in
CLAUDE.md: the title names the problem, the poke carries the voice.

Filenames are untouched, so existing URLs still resolve.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01ULE5RRxdQE1ebwefEd2eCM
This commit is contained in:
Claude
2026-08-05 16:48:33 +00:00
parent 41149328bf
commit 458ccaeb17
5 changed files with 23 additions and 13 deletions
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@@ -14,6 +14,11 @@ Each sin page follows one shape: **poke → proof → why → the fix → receip
## Voice & content conventions ## Voice & content conventions
- **The title names the problem plainly; the poke carries the voice.** A title
is a label someone scans in the gallery and recognizes in a link — write
"Truncated Y-Axis on a Bar Chart," not "The Truncated Temptation." Use the
field's standard term for the sin where one exists. Save the wit for the poke;
that's what it's for.
- **The poke names the general sin, never the sample's specifics.** A visitor - **The poke names the general sin, never the sample's specifics.** A visitor
didn't "start the axis at 90" — they mis-set the baseline. Write didn't "start the axis at 90" — they mis-set the baseline. Write
"Your bars don't start at zero…", not the numbers from our example data. "Your bars don't start at zero…", not the numbers from our example data.
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@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ sits on. The backlog is ordered to bring them all in.
## Ranked backlog ## Ranked backlog
### 1. The Cherry-Picked Window — *Deceptive Framing*, severity 5 ### 1. A Cherry-Picked Time Range — *Deceptive Framing*, severity 5
**Poke:** "You started the clock exactly where the story got good." **Poke:** "You started the clock exactly where the story got good."
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ we can build.
**Citations:** `huff` (the original con), `callingbullshit`, `howchartslie`, **Citations:** `huff` (the original con), `callingbullshit`, `howchartslie`,
`junkcharts`. `junkcharts`.
### 2. Bars That Hide the Distribution — *Hiding the Data*, severity 4 ### 2. Group Averages Shown Without the Distribution — *Hiding the Data*, severity 4
**Poke:** "Four bars, four averages, and no idea whether the difference is real." **Poke:** "Four bars, four averages, and no idea whether the difference is real."
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ observations, means still marked.
**Citations:** `wilke`, `healy`, `schwabish`, `datatoviz`. **Citations:** `wilke`, `healy`, `schwabish`, `datatoviz`.
### 3. The Inflated Bubble — *Perceptual Traps*, severity 4 ### 3. Bubbles Sized by Radius Instead of Area — *Perceptual Traps*, severity 4
**Poke:** "You doubled the number and quadrupled the ink." **Poke:** "You doubled the number and quadrupled the ink."
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ position does the work.
**Citations:** `munzner`, `clevelandmcgill`, `tufte`, `howchartslie`. **Citations:** `munzner`, `clevelandmcgill`, `tufte`, `howchartslie`.
### 4. Alphabetical Is Not a Ranking — *Sloppy Craft*, severity 2 ### 4. Categories Sorted Alphabetically Instead of by Value — *Sloppy Craft*, severity 2
**Poke:** "Your categories are sorted by name. Nobody wants to know which **Poke:** "Your categories are sorted by name. Nobody wants to know which
region starts with A." region starts with A."
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ sorted by value.
**Citations:** `schwabish`, `ftvisvocab`, `swd`, `fewpies`. **Citations:** `schwabish`, `ftvisvocab`, `swd`, `fewpies`.
### 5. Everything Above the Bottom Floats — *Perceptual Traps*, severity 3 ### 5. Stacked Segments Without a Shared Baseline — *Perceptual Traps*, severity 3
**Poke:** "Only the bottom band of a stacked chart has a straight edge to **Poke:** "Only the bottom band of a stacked chart has a straight edge to
measure against. The rest are guesses." measure against. The rest are guesses."
@@ -117,7 +117,7 @@ out to its own zero baseline), totals preserved.
**Citations:** `datawrapper`, `wilke`, `munzner`, `ftvisvocab`. **Citations:** `datawrapper`, `wilke`, `munzner`, `ftvisvocab`.
### 6. The Reversed Axis — *Misleading Scales*, severity 5 ### 6. An Inverted Y-Axis — *Misleading Scales*, severity 5
**Poke:** "Down means up. You flipped the axis and the trend flipped with it." **Poke:** "Down means up. You flipped the axis and the trend flipped with it."
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@ support overlaps almost entirely with sins we've already published.
**Citations:** `callingbullshit`, `howchartslie`, `junkcharts`. **Citations:** `callingbullshit`, `howchartslie`, `junkcharts`.
### 7. Squashed and Stretched — *Misleading Scales*, severity 3 ### 7. Aspect Ratio That Exaggerates a Trend — *Misleading Scales*, severity 3
**Poke:** "Same data, twice as tall. Aspect ratio is not a styling choice." **Poke:** "Same data, twice as tall. Aspect ratio is not a styling choice."
@@ -158,6 +158,11 @@ rediscovering them:
## Conventions reminder ## Conventions reminder
Anything picked up from this list still follows `CLAUDE.md`: the poke names the Anything picked up from this list still follows `CLAUDE.md`: the title names the
general sin and never our sample's numbers, both charts share one dataset, and problem plainly and leaves the wit to the poke, the poke names the general sin
the fixed chart obeys every rule the site preaches. and never our sample's numbers, both charts share one dataset, and the fixed
chart obeys every rule the site preaches.
The headings above are working titles written to that rule — they say what the
sin *is*, so they can be taken as-is or rephrased without having to first decode
a pun.
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@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
--- ---
title: "The Dual-Axis Deception" title: "Two Y-Axes Scaled to Look Correlated"
summary: "Two unrelated series on two independent axes, engineered to look correlated." summary: "Two unrelated series on two independent axes, engineered to look correlated."
poke: "Two y-axes, scaled until the lines overlap — and suddenly anything 'causes' anything." poke: "Two y-axes, scaled until the lines overlap — and suddenly anything 'causes' anything."
category: "False Relationships" category: "False Relationships"
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@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
--- ---
title: "Pie Chart Overload" title: "Too Many Slices in a Pie Chart"
summary: "Eight near-identical slices no human eye can rank. A bar chart was right there." summary: "Eight near-identical slices no human eye can rank. A bar chart was right there."
poke: "More slices than anyone can rank by eye. A bar chart was right there." poke: "More slices than anyone can rank by eye. A bar chart was right there."
category: "Chart-Type Abuse" category: "Chart-Type Abuse"
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@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
--- ---
title: "The Truncated Y-Axis" title: "Truncated Y-Axis on a Bar Chart"
summary: "Chopping the baseline off a bar chart to make small differences look enormous." summary: "Chopping the baseline off a bar chart to make small differences look enormous."
poke: "Your bars don't start at zero. That's not a bar chart — it's a magic trick." poke: "Your bars don't start at zero. That's not a bar chart — it's a magic trick."
category: "Misleading Scales" category: "Misleading Scales"