Seven Checks Before You Answer a Spike

What it is for

An ordered triage for a spike in mention volume, run before anyone drafts a response. It separates a real spike from a query artefact, finds the single post underneath, distinguishes amplification from independent voices, and forces a manual sentiment check. It prevents the classic own goal: an apology that hands a complaint to an audience that never saw it.

The skill Copy

Use the moment a volume chart spikes and someone asks what to do.

Do not answer yet. Work through this in order.

1. Is the spike real? Check whether anyone edited the query, whether a
   data source changed, and whether the same shape appears in the same
   week last year. A query edit produces a suspiciously clean cliff.
2. What is driving it? Sort by reach or engagement and find the single
   post, article or video underneath. Almost every spike is one object,
   not a movement.
3. How many independent voices? One post shared ten thousand times is a
   different problem from ten thousand people typing on their own. Only
   the second is a change in what people think.
4. Is it about you? Homonyms spike too. Read the mentions themselves.
5. Are the sentiment labels right? Read twenty by hand. Automatic
   sentiment misreads sarcasm, negation, and a complaint written
   politely. If it is wrong on five of twenty, quote no percentage
   anywhere in what you send.
6. Is it already falling? A spike that peaked eleven hours ago usually
   needs monitoring, not a statement.
7. Who is actually affected? Customers, staff, one journalist, or a
   community that was never going to buy from you.

Only then choose: reply to individuals, publish something, or watch.
Publishing to an audience that had not seen the complaint is how a
small thing becomes the thing everybody saw.

Write the decision, the time you made it, and the link to the driving
post, in one line. In three days nobody will remember what was known
when - and that is exactly what you will be asked.

How to install it Copy

1. Open the tool and start a new conversation, project or template.
2. Paste the text below wherever the tool keeps standing instructions
   — usually called system prompt, instructions, or persona.
3. Save it so it applies to every run rather than a single message.

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Where it came from