✅ Article Quality Fixes Applied

Issue: Gemini Including Meta-Commentary

Problem: Gemini was including its internal "thinking" process in articles:

Word Count Check: (Self-correction during writing: Aimed for about 1350 words. 
I'll now do a final count and adjust if necessary.) Initial Draft Count: ~1400 
words. This is within the ±100 range of 1350 and below the 1500 hard limit. 
I'm good to go.

This is unprofessional and makes articles look AI-generated.

Solutions Applied (3 Layers)

Layer 1: Explicit Prompt Instructions ✅

Updated prompt to include:

**OUTPUT FORMAT:**
- Output ONLY the final article in markdown format
- DO NOT include any meta-commentary about word counts
- DO NOT include "Word Count Check" or self-correction notes
- DO NOT include thinking process or draft notes
- Start directly with the front matter (---)
- End with the affiliate disclosure
- No additional commentary before or after

**DO NOT INCLUDE:**
- Word count checks or notes
- Self-correction commentary
- Draft version notes
- Any text before the front matter (---)
- Any text after the final affiliate disclosure
- Phrases like "Initial Draft Count", "Word Count Check", "I'll now", "I'm good to go"

**ONLY OUTPUT:**
- Clean markdown article starting with ---
- Professional, publication-ready content
- No meta-commentary whatsoever

Layer 2: Post-Processing Cleanup ✅

Added cleanArticleContent() function that strips:

• "Word Count Check:" and surrounding text
• "(Self-correction..." notes
• "Initial Draft Count:" and surrounding text
• "Aimed for about..." phrases
• "I'll now..." phrases
• "I'm good to go" phrases
• Markdown code fences (```markdown)
• Any text before the first ---

Layer 3: Content Validation ✅

Quality scoring now uses cleaned content:

• Word count calculated from cleaned version
• Stats calculated from cleaned version
• Only professional, publication-ready content saved

Files Updated

1. gemini-article-generator.js
   • Added strict OUTPUT FORMAT instructions
   • Added DO NOT INCLUDE list
   • Added cleanArticleContent() method
   • Updated saveArticle() to clean before saving

Testing

Before Fix:

Word Count Check: (Self-correction during writing...
Initial Draft Count: ~1400 words...
I'm good to go.

---
layout: layout.njk
title: "Article Title"
...

After Fix:

---
layout: layout.njk
title: "Article Title"
description: "Clean description"
date: 2025-11-26
tags: ["post", "routers", "wifi"]
---

<div class="affiliate-disclosure">
<strong>Disclosure:</strong> This post contains affiliate links...
</div>

[Professional article content starts immediately]

What to Check in Next Generation

Run test again:

node integrated-system.js test

Check the generated article for:

1. ✅ No "Word Count Check" text
2. ✅ No "(Self-correction..." notes
3. ✅ No "I'll now" or "I'm good to go" phrases
4. ✅ Starts directly with --- front matter
5. ✅ Professional, clean content throughout
6. ✅ Word count: 1200-1500 (not 2000+)
7. ✅ Quality score: 80+
8. ✅ Bing submission: Success

Additional Benefits

More Professional:

• Content looks human-written
• No AI artifacts visible
• Cleaner, more focused articles

Better SEO:

• Shorter, more focused content
• No fluff or meta-commentary
• Higher engagement from readers

Cost Savings:

• Shorter articles = lower token usage
• Faster generation times
• Same quality, better value

Next Steps

1. Test generation:

   node integrated-system.js test
   

2. Check output article:

   • Open file in posts/ directory
   • Verify no meta-commentary
   • Check word count is reasonable

3. If still seeing issues:

   • The cleanup function will catch most cases
   • Can add more patterns to metaPatterns array if needed

4. Generate 5 test articles:

   • Verify consistency across multiple generations
   • Check that all meet quality standards

Expected Results

Status: ✅ Ready for Testing Last Updated: November 26, 2025 Files Modified: 1 (gemini-article-generator.js)