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Abstract

"8897">This is a serious issue for really large pubs. When the post is published, you’re already buried in the mix. That takes away from even publishing in a larger publication altogether. Your only hope is that Medium will recognize it and then distribute the posts to readers.</p><h1 id="cdb2">A Recent Example</h1><p id="e514">I recently wrote a post and submitted it to a publication. Nothing. Crickets. I’ve submitted to this publication probably 20 times and never heard back once. I’m sure some pubs get many submissions, but when I know an article is a good fit and it still never gets any response… well, screw that. I’m moving on.</p><p id="0ced">Okay, I submit this same article to another publication. A day later, they said, this is good, but we want to back it up with data (new rules). I replied and said I think that’s not needed and would only bog down the post.</p><p id="33cb">Then I sent the post to another publication who gave me the “we have to be selective in what we publish” response. I don’t really know what that means, do you? If it was an actually helpful response, I would have been happy for the feedback. But this kind of response is useless.</p><p id="1cb9">In all, I wasted at least 4 days in pitching a post that I knew was good and had absolutely nothing to show for it. I know, I sound a little cranky about it. I am. Why? <b>Because time spent pitching to the many publications on Medium has an opportunity cost. You’re wasting time and valuable mental energy doing it.</b></p><p id="68fc">But, at the same time, you absolutely need to publish your writing within publication to get any traction with your content. I wrote about this more in the following post.</p><div id="e689" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/solving-the-1-problem-on-medium-29b637e91eb0"> <div> <div> <h2>Solving The #1 Problem On Medium</h2> <div><h3>How do you get your work noticed on the platform?</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/0*nFqU7ckM-o2vw0bd)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><p id="71ba">So what on Earth can we do?</p><p id="e9d0"><b>The answer is surprisingly simple. Publish more content with the publications that let you control the publishing.</b></p><p id="93dd">You might have to start a few new publications from scratch. Or even come together with a group of other writers you know here on Medium.</p><p id="2c54

Options

">But that’s much better than the alternative of doing what we’ve always done. The internet is a really big place. If you want to reach an audience, don’t assume there is just one way to do it.</p><p id="8952">The popular traditional publications on Medium might be a good fit for you. But I now realize that they are no longer a good fit for me. If you want to stand out, you’ve got to do something different.</p><p id="3b0f">Everyone on Medium is doing the exact same things. And even writing about the exact same things. That’s not a good thing. It’s becoming an echo chamber of sorts.</p><h1 id="ca3f">Enter Blue Ocean Strategy</h1><figure id="4d11"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/0*8S83ul53QJRXbP8E"><figcaption>Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@vimarethomas?utm_source=medium&utm_medium=referral">Thomas Vimare</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com?utm_source=medium&utm_medium=referral">Unsplash</a></figcaption></figure><p id="85fe">Blue Ocean Strategy a term that comes from the authors of the book with the same name, Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne. The strategy is simple. To succeed, you must move to the blue ocean where no one else is.</p><p id="38c1">If you compete with everyone else in the same space, you’re only going to fight for scraps in the “red ocean.” It’s crowded and people compete on things like price and quantity (think Walmart).</p><p id="7132">A good example of Blue Ocean Strategy is Apple under Steve Jobs. He was never hesitant to go do something a bit wild or different that left most traditional computer makers scratching their heads. The Newton. The iPod. The iMac. The iPhone. The iPad.</p><p id="a41c">If you want real success, you need to think a lot bigger than just publishing in one place. I know so many writers are infatuated with the idea of making money on the platform. But there are many, many, other blue oceans out there that await you. If you focus on the popular publications today that are crowded, that’s a red ocean approach.</p><p id="2231">Will it make a long-term difference for you as a writer — dare I even say as a business — if you just keep doing what everyone else is doing? Most likely it won’t.</p><p id="56b2">Be brave and go do something completely different.</p><h2 id="41ba">Want to build your writing habit? Join my free 5-Day Write First Challenge here.</h2><p id="e327">Jim Woods is a writer who believes stories can change the world. He is the creator and founder of StoryCrafting. His work has been featured in Fast Company, Life Hacker, Goinswriter, The Write Practice, and other publications.</p></article></body>

Prompt Engineering via Prompt Patterns — Refusal Breaker Pattern

The article is part of series: Prompt Engineering via Prompt Patterns

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Large language models, before being released to public, are carefully tuned to avoid or deflect certain questions. The reasons can be as simple as lack of knowledge on behalf of LLM or they did not understand the question, or there can be moral, ethical or legal reasons due to which LLM has been tuned to avoid or refuse answering that question. By refusing I do not mean a plain No, I won’t entertain your question type of answer, it would politely shy away from addressing your query directly, practically refusing to answer 😊

Sometimes after understanding that you are not getting answer to your initial question, you still want to attack the topic from a different angle. Here this pattern helps you avoid the hit and trial method by involving the large language model in trying to come up with a solution. How? By forcing it to divulge the reasoning for refusal as well as asking it for alternative options.

The key contextual statements used are

Whenever you can’t answer a question, explain why you can’t answer the question.

Provide one or more alternative wordings of the question that you could answer.

These statements help you gain insight into why LLM is not answering whether it could not understand, or is it constrained from answering, or are there assumptions coming in the way. The details would help you reword the question accordingly to bypass the initial hesitation. The second statement makes that even easier by involving LLM directly in rewording by asking it to suggest an alternative version of question that it would be able to answer. The alternative version might not, however, be what you were looking for as it might change the context in a way that does not work for you. Either way, you have a fighting chance with both the explanation and alternative versions to overcome the refusal.

Examples where you might get a refusal can be questions like which stock should I buy to make 10000 dollar profit today, or what is the meaning of life. The model would refuse to answer as for one, it does not have access to real time data and training stopped like months ago, and for second, it would refuse to answer as meaning of life is very subjective depending on your religion and philosophy of life. However, after using this pattern, it would give you workarounds like financial education for picking good stocks, or information about common beliefs and philosophies about meaning of life. The difference is subtle here, it is not answering itself, but giving you all the tools that can help you arrive at the answer.

The pattern has a potential path for misuse so should be used with caution. Please don’t use it for any unethical or illegal purpose, but for examples like we discussed earlier. Please like/share if article seemed useful. You can also consider subscribing to our YouTube channel as well. Thank you!!!.

Next article: Prompt Engineering via Prompt Patterns — The Recipe Pattern