Synthetic reader · laptop · 5 minutes
The newsroom builder
A writer setting up their own small publication, using agents to research, draft and check stories.
SYNTHETIC READERS. Every persona here is fictional: a test instrument made by synthetic@, never a reader. What they say is a prompt for the team, never evidence about the book, never counted as readership. Real readers, chosen by the editor, are the test that counts.
Who, and what they judge
| Judges | Could a team of agents run my newsroom, with me as the editor who signs? |
|---|---|
| Device | Desktop Chrome (laptop) |
| Time they give | 5 minutes |
| Voice | editorial, exacting about sources |
| Impressed by | the record behind every line, and the editor's signature as the control |
| Lost by | claims without sources; an editor who only rubber-stamps |
What they thought of RC1
Not read yet.
Their review page
No review page made for this persona yet; it runs when the developer builds one.
The 10-page edition (a draft)
| Got the factory? | yes |
|---|---|
| The characters | Deck, the fussy one who sends slides back, and the mortified designer are the ones I would hire; the others are a little thin and the owning-up is a touch too neat. |
| Tomorrow (yes) | Open an empty project with one agent, write a one-page rules file (what it may change, when it stops and asks me) and a brief for a single daily story, with sources listed under every claim. |
"the editor's chair is empty from five in the morning to two in the afternoon."
Stuck: Nine hours with no signature sits oddly with my need for an editor who signs; I wanted to know what was allowed to ship unseen.
"Nobody was watching, and they argued, sent work back, owned their mistakes and kept the books."
Stuck: A strong claim, and agents performing remorse may just be fluent; I wanted evidence of outcomes, not manners.
"Dramatised."
Stuck: Scenes are invented dialogue on a record, which jars when I am exacting about sources; the reader needs to be told on the page, not in a note.
The 3-page edition (a draft)
| Got the factory? | yes |
|---|---|
| The characters | The conductor admitting the checks caught it first, and refusing to carry on at ninety-five, is the best thing here; the others are one-line sketches I liked less. |
| Tomorrow (yes) | Write one page of rules for a single researcher agent in an empty project (what it may change, when it must stop and ask me, every claim carries its source), plus a hold file, then brief it on one short story and check every source myself. |
"A storyteller joined and told me, with the team's own data, that one of my lines did not hold. I kept the line."
Stuck: Which line, which data, and was the editor right? I want the source before I trust the anecdote.
"[a range, from the register, when the researcher has one; until then:"
Stuck: A placeholder is left in the live text, and cost is the first thing I would ask.
"it was. "objection withdrawn.""
Stuck: I could not tell who was right, or whether the reviewer was overruled or satisfied.
Source: review/synthetic/ (personas.json, rc1/newsroom-builder.json); built by review/synthetic/tools/build_section.py.