# Premise Say you had to choose 5 sentences. And from this point on you never could reply to anyone with anything other that those 5 predetermined sentences. Which would they be ? Have you ever given this idea any though ? I have. Because that's basically what the 5 quick reply presets on my smartwatch are. So then, which 5 replies can cover the most amount of meaning ? I looked at the replies that are set by default on my smart watch : - Yes - No - Sounds good! - Can't talk now, will reply later. - What's up? I wasn't satisfied. Why do you have "yes" and "sounds good". Those are basically the same reply. # The ideal replies I was compelled to look army tactical speech. Y'know ? When they say "Positive", "Negative", "Over", "Copy", and other stuff like that. It's short, concise, and carries the exact useful information you need. They have no time for figuring out words or having misunderstanding about definitions and meanings. (especially not when you're in a warzone) So I decided to take a list of all the terms they use, and slowly filter them down and tweak them to the 5 most useful replies. (You can check my full process [[Ultimate tactical reply presets|here]] after you finish this article) ==What I ended up with is these 5 :== - ==Watch reply: Yes== - ==Watch reply: No== - ==Watch reply: Mm== - ==Watch reply: More info?== - ==Watch reply: Can't say== # What do the replies mean ? ### Yes, no, mm "Yes" and "no" are self explanatory, they allow you to give a positive or negative reply. Do note how all of the replies are preposed with "Watch reply:". This sets the context for the limited answers, for why you sound different from usual, and it makes people open to play along and make binary questions that you can reply to with just "yes" or "no". "Mm" is nothing answer. It means anything and everything. The only concrete piece of information they can deduct out of this reply, is that you've read their message and just replied with this. Therefore it acts as a "message read" checkmark. It means "copy" or "roger that". It's a must in the toolkit when you want to make it known you've read, but neither "yes" or "no" are the appropriate answer. ### More info? Then we've got "More info?". This generally expresses that there needs to be more messages sent by the person. There's a question mark, which clearly indicates that this is a question that requires *their* reply. Also, the preset includes "Watch reply:" which once again sets the stage for the fact that they have to comply and play along. Say you receive a message from a friend asking if you're still coming to that party you talked about last week. If you send "Watch reply: More info?", even if they wanted to, they couldn't start an argument about how you're the worst friend ever for forgetting : You couldn't reply and join the argument, therefore it's a dud. And even if they are light on additional info and do not give you all the info you need from the get go, i.e. they reply with "you know, the one we talked about last week?", you can still send a few more "More info?" until they finally spill the beans and understand you're asking for the full address and precise hour. ### Can't say Finally, "Can't say" is like the inverse of "More info?". It's a way to close up the conversation instead of opening it. If "More info?" helped unlock dead ends, "Can't say" creates them, and signals that for whatever reason, you're not able to communicate on this subject. Perhaps it's a touchy subject, or you promised to keep it a secret. Or maybe it's simply because it was an open ended question that you can't reply to with "yes" or "no". But again, the magic of the presets including "Watch reply:" is that if that was the issue, they'll be able to get a clue, and break down the question into a "yes" or "no" question for you. And just like before, if they're too slow to understand what they need to do, you can just spam "Can't say" a few times more until they finally comply. # Why they're the best Another cool way to look at these replies, is to place them in the cardinal directions. | | | | | --------- | --- | ---------- | | | Yes | | | Can't say | Mm | More info? | | | No | | You can see how while "yes" and "no" help push a conversation towards validation or negation, "can't say" and "more info?" help push a conversation forward, or make it stop. Meanwhile "mm" is a true chaotic neutral, and doesn't affect the outcome. You can then see how these five replies really are like a D-Pad allowing you to move though a conversation. It really is like a game. The "Watch reply:" context makes it so the person will understand that they have to give you easier options to navigate, they'll be your assistant as you help them get the answers they want out of you. And tbh, humans love these kinds of silly games where you have to figure out what the other person means. Cue in the dozen of tabletop games like "Guess who?" or "Headbanz".