Sloppy vs polished
The times they are a-changin'
Had I asked you a few years ago if you preferred sloppy or polished writing, I bet you would have chosen polished without blinking.
Polished used to mean well-structured, well-edited, well-thought-through. It still means that, but it’s getting a bad rap.
In April 2026, I ran a survey on writing at work (which some of you filled out, thank you!). I spent most of this week analyzing the responses from 71 people, and while not representative of the whole workforce, I think the conclusion speaks well for experienced knowledge workers.
The survey asked people about writing habits, challenges, and opportunities for improvement. One surprising result came from the question “What frustrates you most in other people’s writing? (Select up to 3)”.
Roughly 47% said that poor structure is one of the biggest problems, while 47% said over-polishing is the most frustrating. Other problems identified were vagueness, excessive length, and not getting to the point.
In other words, professionals dislike sloppy and over-polished writing equally. Are these in direct contradiction? Somewhat.
Where this comes from, of course, is AI. If a few years ago, polished meant someone skilled spent time producing a good piece of writing for you to enjoy, it may now be a sign of AI writing.
And 79% of respondents reported using AI, but not really trusting it - another contradiction for you.
In a recent Wall Street Journal article titled “Writers Are Going to Extremes to Prove They Didn’t Use AI”, journalist Te-Ping Chen says that “people are adding typos, aggressively casual language and references to ‘The Office’ to stay ahead of armchair detectors.”
In a Carrie Bradshaw manner, I can’t help but wonder…
Are we leaving polished behind and adopting sloppy writing, against everything we learned, just to sound human? And how long till the machines catch up?
Personally, I believe message efficiency should prevail, and style should follow. Does a formal or informal approach best serve the text? Is sloppy part of the tone of voice? If so, by all means, use it. But not as a trick, as a technique.
I’ve been writing professionally for 20 years, so I get angry when “armchair detectors” pick on me for em dashes, subtitles, or the word “landscape.” I’m also annoyed that we’ve lost structures like “it’s not… it’s…” or “not as a… but as a…” in the friendly fire.
Contradictions in the data reflect a confused landscape. We’re in the midst of big changes, and people don’t know how to react. So we’re all a bit all over the place.
The dust will settle over the chips, eventually, and skill will prevail. Even if it’s the skill of knowing how to break the rules better than the machines.
I invite you to read the writing-at-work survey results, and I hope you’ll find some interesting insights (also available in Romanian if you prefer it).