Hedging Language Detection

This rule identifies and flags words and phrases that express uncertainty, hesitation, or personal opinion - commonly known as "hedging language." These expressions can weaken your writing and reduce its clarity and authority. The rule helps maintain a more direct, confident, and professional tone in your documentation.

Hedging language often makes writing feel less authoritative and can create unnecessary ambiguity for readers. When technical documentation uses phrases like "might work" or "I think," it can leave readers unsure about whether a feature actually works or if the information is reliable.

Examples:

✗ Incorrect:

"This feature appears to be working correctly"
"I think this will solve your problem"
"The command might execute successfully"
"Usually, the system performs well"

✓ Better:

"This feature works correctly"
"This solves your problem"
"The command executes successfully"
"The system performs well"

The rule flags common hedging terms like:

Opinion phrases ("I believe," "In my opinion")
Uncertainty qualifiers ("possibly," "probably," "perhaps")
Tentative verbs ("seem," "appear," "might")
Generalizations ("in general," "usually")

Rule Source

This rule comes from: https://github.com/mesosphere/dcos-docs-site

Rule Definition

---
extends: existence
message: "Consider removing '%s'"
ignorecase: true
level: warning
tokens:
  - appear to be
  - arguably
  - as far as I know
  - could
  - from my point of view
  - hopefully
  - I believe
  - I doubt
  - I think
  - in general
  - In my opinion
  - likely
  - might
  - more or less
  - perhaps
  - possibly
  - presumably
  - probably
  - seem(s)?
  - somewhat
  - to my knowledge
  - unlikely
  - usually