TL;DR
A December 26, 2025 blog post declares an intentional return to the em—dash in place of hyphens across the author's site, framing the choice as a pushback against assumptions that the punctuation indicates machine-generated text. The author says they built a plugin to convert hyphens into em—dashes and will apply the change throughout the blog.
What happened
On December 26, 2025, a blog post titled “A Proclamation Regarding the Restoration of the Dash” announced a stylistic policy change for the site. The post argues that the em—dash is a longstanding tool in English prose used for emphasis, parenthetical thought and rhythmic pause, and objects to a perceived bias that treating the em—dash as a distinctive mark marks text as machine‑generated. The author states a refusal to let algorithmic associations dictate punctuation choices and formally decrees that, within the blog, hyphens will no longer serve as punctuation or pauses and will be replaced with em—dashes. The post also notes practical habits: the author forms em—dashes with double or triple dashes in LaTeX and Word, and reports having written a plugin to convert hyphens on the site into em—dashes, including instances where a hyphen might traditionally be correct. The post is tagged with “llm,” “ai,” and “emdash.”
Why it matters
- Raises questions about how punctuation choices are interpreted in the era of automated text generation and detection.
- Highlights tensions between typographic tradition (em—dash) and more utilitarian punctuation uses (hyphen).
- Signals how individual creators may adapt sitewide formatting via tools like plugins, affecting archival and editorial consistency.
- Points to potential confusion when stylistic automation replaces semantically distinct marks (hyphen vs. em—dash).
Key facts
- The post is titled “A Proclamation Regarding the Restoration of the Dash” and was published on December 26, 2025.
- The author identifies themselves in the post with the initials or handle “mjd.”
- The author argues that the em—dash has been unfairly stigmatized as a sign of machine‑generated writing.
- The post decrees that, on this blog, hyphens will be removed from roles of punctuation and replaced by em—dashes.
- The author says they routinely use double or triple dashes in LaTeX and Microsoft Word to produce em—dashes.
- A plugin was created by the author to convert hyphens on the blog into em—dashes; the author acknowledges it converts some hyphens that should remain hyphens.
- The post is tagged with “llm,” “ai,” and “emdash.”
- Readers can view and comment on the post via the Fediverse, according to the site notice.
What to watch next
- Whether the author publishes or shares the em—dash conversion plugin publicly — not confirmed in the source.
- If readers or other publishers adopt similar punctuation policies in response — not confirmed in the source.
- How comments and the Fediverse community respond to the change on this blog — not confirmed in the source.
Quick glossary
- Em dash: A long dash (—) used in typography to create a strong break in a sentence, often for emphasis or parenthetical asides.
- Hyphen: A short mark (-) used to join words or to split words at line breaks; it serves different grammatical roles than an em dash.
- Large Language Model (LLM): A type of machine learning model trained on large text datasets to generate or analyze human-like language.
- LaTeX: A typesetting system commonly used for technical and scientific documents; users often produce em dashes by entering multiple hyphens.
- Plugin: A software component that adds a specific feature or behavior to an existing application or website.
Reader FAQ
Who published the proclamation?
The post was published on the blog and the author signs it with “mjd.”
Will hyphens be removed from the blog?
The author declares that hyphens will be replaced by em—dashes within the borders of the blog.
Did the author build any tools to implement this change?
Yes; the author says they wrote a plugin to convert hyphens into em—dashes on the site.
Is this change a commentary on AI‑generated text?
The post frames the decision as a response to a perceived prejudice that the em—dash is a telltale sign of machine‑generated writing.
Will other sites adopt this proclamation?
not confirmed in the source
A Proclamation Regarding the Restoration of the Dash Posted on Fri 26 December 2025 WHEREAS, the em—dash (—) has long served as the elegant scaffolding of the English sentence, providing the…
Sources
- A Proclamation Regarding the Restoration of the Dash
- Inside the unofficial movement to save the em dash
- reclaiming em-en dashing back from AI and lowercasing
- A lowly punctuation mark has sparked a fiercely debated AI …
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