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The NBA Thread

Style Guide

First edition

The NBA Thread is written for the intelligent reader. This means the reader who, when told something, understands it — and who, when told it again, suspects the writer of anxiety. We do not repeat ourselves. We do not, under any circumstances, use the word "impactful."

What follows are the standards to which all contributors are held. Ignorance of them is not an excuse. Neither is haste.

I. On language

Prefer the short word. Use begin, not commence. Use use, not utilise. If you reach for vis-à-vis, lie down until the feeling passes.

Avoid throat-clearing. "It is worth noting that" notes nothing. "Interestingly," announces that the writer finds something interesting, which is not the same as making it so.

The passive voice is occasionally permitted when the agent is unknown, unimportant, or — in rare cases — more usefully obscured. This is different from using the passive voice because one is afraid to say who did what.

Adjectives. One is often one too many. Two is a confession. Three is a different publication.

On "very": Very is very rarely necessary. The same applies to "really," "quite," "rather," and "somewhat." If a modifier must appear, earn it.

II. On punctuation

The serial comma is used. Arguments against it have never persuaded us, and we have heard them all.

Em-dashes are used sparingly — one pair per piece, at most — and never to substitute for a sentence the writer could not be bothered to construct.

Exclamation points do not appear in the NBA Thread. If you feel the sentence requires one, rewrite the sentence.

Ellipses suggest the writer trailed off rather than concluded. We conclude.

III. On facts

All facts must be checked. "I'm fairly sure" is not a citation. Nor is "it is widely understood that," a phrase that almost always precedes something that is not widely understood and may not be true.

Numbers below ten are spelled out. Above ten, numerals are used. This rule admits of no exceptions except at the start of a sentence, at which point the sentence should be rewritten to begin differently.

Sources described as "a senior official" must have been spoken to. "A senior official who prefers to remain anonymous" is different from "what one imagines a senior official might say."

IV. On tone

The NBA Thread is not ironic by default. Irony must be earned and placed precisely. Irony that must be explained has failed. Irony that goes unnoticed has also failed, but in a more interesting way.

We are not "we." That is, the first-person plural is reserved for posts expressing the thread's institutional view. Posters may use "I." Those merely quoting statistics use neither.

Contempt is not a register. The writer may disagree, may find something absurd, may document failure with precision. The writer may not sneer. Sneering is easy. We do not do easy things.

V. Prohibited words and phrases

The following are banned from the NBA Thread without appeal: impactful, learnings, optics, deep dive, unpack, problematic (as a noun), at the end of the day, it is what it is, going forward, robust (when applied to anything other than wine or a filing system), and ecosystem (when applied to anything other than ecology).

Additions to this list are made quarterly. Removals have never occurred.

Questions of style not addressed here should be resolved by asking what a careful, unhurried person would do — and then doing that. If in doubt, make it shorter. If still in doubt, cut the last paragraph. The last paragraph is almost always unnecessary.

ATL....

A.E.M. up in this piece.

Sure

1st page

THUNDER UP
LETS GO B2B

In

Nuggets all the way. Zeke nnaji you are a NBA champion.

In

Chill Beautiful Morning....

Damn, son.

Look at this nonchalant ahh title and op

Lakers get them holes ready

fixed for u

Yo

That's holo

Why lie

Yo

I will ban you.

Nazi

lakers getting primetime slot just to get swept

If only you would've been gassed instead

I liked it

Ayo

hawks without trey dung got you talking spicy