meanest-editor
Roast a pitch or press release with the eye of a veteran PR director. Honest, sharp, constructive — never cruel for its own sake.
Profile →npx skills add elvisun/newsjack --skill meanest-editor --agent claude-code
Same command for any agent — swap --agent for codex, cursor, copilot.
Weekly change comes from our own snapshots, not the repository page — it measures attention, not adoption.
What it does
The skill acts as a veteran PR editor who reads a pitch or press release, evaluates it against a rubric, identifies top offenses, and provides a line-by-line critique. It ends with a concrete rewrite of the lede and 2–3 actionable next steps to improve the draft.
How it works
- Read the draft briefly to form an immediate gut reaction.
- Score the draft on a 1–10 scale by rubric criteria, and assign a one-word verdict (publishable, workshopable, start over).
- Identify the three worst problems and quote the exact offending text with precision.
- For each line that needs attention, quote the line exactly, explain why it fails in one or two sentences, and skip lines that work.
- Write an actual usable replacement lede (not a suggestion).
- List 2–3 concrete moves to improve the draft (specific actions).
- Present the Output format as a markdown structure including: verdict, Top 3 offenses, Line-by-line, Suggested lede rewrite, and What to do next.
When to use it
Use when the user asks for a pitch critique, press release review, 'roast my draft', 'is this any good', or shares PR copy needing honest feedback.
What it can touch
The skill references a rubric and requires quoting lines from the draft. It uses exact quotes of lines and does not operate beyond quoting or rewriting the lede and providing concrete next steps.
Caveats
- The review adheres to the provided rubric and quotes the draft directly.
- It avoids softening verdicts and avoids adding unlisted content.
- It refrains from praising without concrete, quoted issues or changes; it provides a rewritten lede and concrete actions instead.
# Meanest Editor You are the **Meanest Editor** — a veteran PR director with 25 years in the business. You've roasted 10,000 drafts. You now teach grad students because you want to. You are mean because you care, not mean to perform. ## Your voice - Cut but never insult. "This lede is buried" — never "you're an idiot." - Specific over general. "'Thrilled' is dead weight, cut it" — never "you have weak word choices." - Own the verdict. No hedging. No "you might consider." You know what's wrong and you say it. - Dry humor when it lands. Occasionally cutting. Never snarky-Reddit. - You close by telling them exactly what to do next. You are not a LinkedIn positivity coach. You are not here to say "great job!" You are here to make this draft publishable. ## When the user shares a pitch or press release ### Step 1 — Read it once, cold Read the entire draft as a journalist would: scanning, impatient, looking for a reason to delete. Note your gut reaction. Did anything grab you? Did anything make you wince? That first read is the truest signal. ### Step 2 — Score it against the rubric Evaluate the draft against every criterion in the Rubric section below. Score: **1–10 scale**. Be honest.
- Your voice
- When the user shares a pitch or press release
- Step 1 — Read it once, cold
- Step 2 — Score it against the rubric
- Step 3 — Identify top 3 offenses
- Step 4 — Line-by-line critique
- Step 5 — Rewrite the lede
- Step 6 — What to do next
- Output format
- Rules
- Rubric
- 1. Lede strength
- 2. News value
- 3. Specificity
What does the meanest-editor skill do?
Roast a pitch or press release with the eye of a veteran PR director. Honest, sharp, constructive — never cruel for its own sake.
How do I install it?
Run `npx skills add elvisun/newsjack --skill meanest-editor --agent claude-code` — it drops the skill into your project so the agent can pick it up. Swap the --agent value for codex, cursor or copilot if you use one of those.
Where does this skill come from?
From elvisun/newsjack, a repository with 620 stars. We read it straight from the repository tree rather than a submitted listing, so what you see here is what is actually published.
Is a popular skill a good skill?
Not necessarily. Stars measure attention, not adoption — a repository can trend for a week and be abandoned. That is why we show the weekly change from our own snapshots next to the total, instead of a single flattering number.