Patterns
Opening with ”stop doing this”: 18 posts, and what the best ones do
18 posts in the library open with a ”stop doing this”, reaching a median of 470 likes. Eight that worked, what separates the top quarter from the rest, and how to write one.
Rests on:the post,the post,the post,the post,the post,the post,the post,the post
The first line tells the reader to stop something — a habit, a tactic, a phrasing. It works on people already doing the thing, who feel addressed, and on people who suspect they should not be, who feel caught.
18 posts in the library open this way — 0% of everything in it. They reach a median of 470 likes, against 632 for the library as a whole: the opening is common, not a guarantee.
Eight that worked
Never thought I would see "Meet the Press" publicly disssent from a decision made by NBC News, but it happened today. Chuck Todd to Kristen Welker: "Our bosses owe you an apology." Then two other panelists explained on air why hiring Ronna McDaniel is such a credibility disaster.
don't forget
Don't make the mistake of respecting grumpy people because they seem to be wise mature people. Grumpiness is fake maturity; it only looks like maturity to the inexperienced.
don't even really have words, we got an email about a minute before this story published
Don't try to run Qwen 3.8 27B on a DGX Sparks / Mac minis / MacBooks
Never let your credentials be the only noteworthy thing about your pitch.
Never been a better shoe launch marketing than Adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3.
Don't be fooled by the .1, this is a big upgrade
What separates the top from the rest
Comparing the 4 most-liked posts with this opening against the other 14:
- 0% of the top posts put a figure in the first line, against 43% of the rest.
- The structure the analysis reads most often in the top group is Hook → Landing — 3 of 4.
How to write one
Name the specific behaviour, not the category: "stop opening cold emails with your company name", not "stop making mistakes". Then say what to do instead in the very next line, or the post is a scold. The examples below that reached the most people all pair the prohibition with a replacement.
The analysis of the strongest example above puts it this way: Preserve the Hook → Landing structure and the tells you what not to do opening. Replace the subject matter entirely with the writer’s own product, story and numbers.
Take the top three into the studio with your own subject; the opening move carries over, the words do not.