why hard code …

That ... is not hard coded, it’s from the excerpt function

I dug through your code, found it and removed it. It was in your code and the only way to remove it was to break the rules by editing your core files.

I see, you mean this code, right? Do you have any reason why you need to remove it?

It looks horrible to have it be “…Read More”. Normally it should be “Read More…”. But sometimes I like to be fancy and do it like this…”Read More ?”. Or even get really crazy and do “Read More ??”. The important thing is I want full control over my read more text. And you give us control over the read more text but then mess it up by adding … before it. If I want … before it I can add it in my self.

Agreed with graftedin. Make the excerpt customizable by either adding … after X amount of length, or by breaking word.