diff --git a/packages/jsdoc/templates/silent/README.md b/packages/jsdoc/templates/silent/README.md
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--- a/packages/jsdoc/templates/silent/README.md
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-# OVERVIEW
-
-The `silent` template outputs nothing at all. Why would that be useful? Primarily for running JSDoc as a linter to check for syntax errors and unrecognized tags in documentation comments, although it may also be useful for testing or benchmarking purposes.
-
-# USAGE
-
-    ./jsdoc myscript.js -t templates/silent -a all --pedantic
-
-This command exits with a non-zero exit code if any errors are encountered. It writes nothing to disk and the only output it produces is any error messages written to `stderr`. This command can also be used to warn about tags which are unknown to JSDoc by setting `"allowUnknownTags": false` in a configuration file.
diff --git a/packages/jsdoc/templates/silent/publish.js b/packages/jsdoc/templates/silent/publish.js
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-/*
-  Copyright 2013 the JSDoc Authors.
-
-  Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
-  you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
-  You may obtain a copy of the License at
-
-      https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
-
-  Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
-  distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
-  WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
-  See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
-  limitations under the License.
-*/
-/* eslint-disable no-empty-function, no-unused-vars */
-/**
-    @param {TAFFY} taffyData See <http://taffydb.com/>.
-    @param {object} opts
- */
-exports.publish = (taffyData, opts) => {};