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This is part of the comment rules of one blog.

Shameless self-promotion is well, shameless, and will get canned.

(source: https://security.googleblog.com/2017/02/announcing-first-sha1-collision.html )

I can't understand this sentence at all. Is this a typo or really a meaningful sentence? If so, please share the meaning of it and how to grammartically analyze it.

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    I think there's a missing comma : "Shameless self-promotion is, well, shameless, and will get canned." It's a statement of the obvious, and the general meaning is that self-promotion will be punished.
    – Frédéric
    Feb 23, 2017 at 20:36
  • I think you're right! What should I do now? Wait for someone to answer? Feb 23, 2017 at 20:40
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    I guess it should be: Shameless self-promotion is, well, shameless and will get canned. - Describing the syntax: - Shameless self-promotion (Subject), Is (Verb), Well (Adverb), shameless (Complement), and will get canned (Compound sentence with the subject omitted).
    – A.Cool
    Feb 23, 2017 at 20:41
  • @JennyaChang : I'll do an answer then
    – Frédéric
    Feb 23, 2017 at 20:54
  • 'Well' here is a pragmatic marker (hesitation or mitigation) and as such is a parenthetical, and as usual needs setting off from the matrix sentence. But here, I'd include the adjective within the dashes: "Shameless self-promotion is – well, shameless – and will get canned." The second 'shameless' has more bite than the first ('Shameless self-promotion' is hardly jarring), and is used to underline the seriousness of the offence. Feb 23, 2017 at 22:00

2 Answers 2

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There appears to be a missing comma in the sentence :

Shameless self-promotion is , well, shameless, and will get canned.

Between is and well. This indicates that what follows is a statement of the obvious : something shameless is indeed shameless.

As for the general meaning, it is that self-promotion in this forum will be punished.

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Shameless self-promotion is well, shameless, and will get canned.

If you use this site to outright (shameless) promote yourself (self-promotion), honestly (well), that is without shame (shameless). Thus, that promotion (and) will be discarded in the trash (get canned).

Structurally, the sentence parallels: Red apples are—really—red, and will get peeled.

Simpler: We do not allow self-promotion.

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