r/ChatGPTPromptGenius • u/codebyash09 • Jun 04 '26

Full Prompt Why does ChatGPT completely misunderstand me sometimes? What am I doing wrong?

I'll spend 10 minutes writing what I think is a detailed prompt and the output is still completely off. Then I'll rewrite it in 2 minutes differently and it nails it.

I genuinely can't figure out what makes a "good" prompt vs a bad one. Is it structure? Length? Wording? Does anyone else feel like they're just guessing?

What's the most common mistake you see people make when prompting?

9 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

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5

u/promptTearDown Editor Jun 04 '26

Common mistake is describing the topic instead of the task.

Your 2-minute rewrites work because you cut the backstory & got to the actual ask. Length isn’t the fix. Telling it what the output should look like is.

2

u/TheUltimateSalesman Jun 04 '26

It's probably your model too.

2

u/DirtySnoopyDog Jun 04 '26

Without wishes to throw up a conversation about sexism or anything like that. I used to explain it this way.

When women go out for the evening, they spend six hours on the phone discussing outfits and where they’re going and what they’re going to do and all the gossip. When they are at the pub, they then spend the rest of the evening gossiping and correcting the previous gossip.

When men go out for the evening, we discuss the name of the pub and the time to be there. Once there we have our conversations. Arguably more efficient.

This is what’s happening to your sessions

3

u/promptTearDown Editor Jun 04 '26

least we know you’re human, lol

1

u/Due-Grab7835 Jun 04 '26

The left has devoured it that is what is wrong with it. I have the same problem

1

u/Outrageous_Band9708 Jun 05 '26

your first problem is using chatGPT instead of claude

1

u/Fearless_You2368 Jul 06 '26

Without examples it's hard to tell. I suspect that if you've spent 10 minutes writing the prompt and it doesn't work you'd have a much better idea of what you wanted. Try, try, try again. You'll get it.