9 ms·

As the person who submitted this story, I have a question: why was Sarah Kliff’s name removed from the headline? I submitted it with the same title it carries

As the person who submitted this story, I have a question: why was Sarah Kliff’s name removed from the headline? I submitted it with the same title it carries at CJR, which includes her name. The story is a profile of her and her work, so removing it makes the headline less informative, not more. And she’s not a celebrity, so mentioning her by name doesn’t make the headline any more clickbaity than it would be without it. Is there some reason HN believes she deserves to have her name struck out of the title of her own profile?

robertAngst 8y ago
I find HN borderline propaganda. Its the only educated place on the internet, but the front page and comments is what HN whales decide.
- pokemongoaway 8y ago
  I support this comment. Especially considering the "free speech alternatives" like gab.ai are being forcefully taken down.
- devwastaken 8y ago
  I would save the word propaganda for what it's meant to mean, and not for dissatisfaction in the bias of a platform.
- dang 8y ago
  You're not giving the community enough credit. We moderate the site, but we certainly don't determine it—and if we do something the community doesn't like, they are anything but shy in letting us know.
stephenbez 8y ago
Same thing happened to me, where the title was changed from "Java Creator James Gosling: Why I Quit Oracle" to "Why I Quit Oracle". https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15163932 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15163932 It doesn't make sense.
- hardwaresofton 8y ago
  Your example (taken with this one) actually makes it make more sense though -- seems like they remove names from articles. I don't know why the mods have chosen to do that (I'm not going to speculate because there could be lots of reasons), but at the very least they're doing it consistently.
  - TomK32 8y ago
    well, it's a very different thing if the title is "Why I quit Oracle" or "Java Creator: Why I quit Oracle" and when it's all about removing name the consequence would have been a meaningless "Why I quit".
dang 8y ago
We often remove names from titles, because HN works better when the focus is on content rather than personalities. https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comment&storyText=false&prefix=false&page=0&query=by:dang%20content%20personalities https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comme...
- smacktoward 8y ago
  But it's an interview with a specific person, focused entirely on her work. The entire content of the article is tied to who she is and what she does. Removing her name from the headline just obliterates the value of the headline as a way to determine what you're going to see when you land on the other side of the link. This is a misguided policy and I hope you reconsider it.
  - hardwaresofton 8y ago
    Just want to note that I'm on the other side of this -- I think this is a great moderation policy for this specific forum. Including names seems like a good way to: - let people exercise their people-related biases - encourage gaming of the system by appealing to authority - encourage gossip-y headlines "X's techchruch interview whatever whatever" > Removing her name from the headline just obliterates the value of the headline as a way to determine what you're going to see when you land on the other side of the link. I'm not sure I agree with this at all... What she did is what's valuable right? When I clicked that headline, I expect to see something or some process that is actually bringing transparency to ER prices. Also at the end of the day HN isn't a democracy :), but I think I happen to fall in the majority here (or at least in line with what was decided).
- trumped 8y ago
  You forgot to remove the name from this post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18295942 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18295942 ... or is Tesla not a name?
  - dang 8y ago

robertAngst 8y ago

I find HN borderline propaganda. Its the only educated place on the internet, but the front page and comments is what HN whales decide.

pokemongoaway 8y ago
I support this comment. Especially considering the "free speech alternatives" like gab.ai are being forcefully taken down.
devwastaken 8y ago
I would save the word propaganda for what it's meant to mean, and not for dissatisfaction in the bias of a platform.
dang 8y ago
You're not giving the community enough credit. We moderate the site, but we certainly don't determine it—and if we do something the community doesn't like, they are anything but shy in letting us know.

stephenbez 8y ago

Same thing happened to me, where the title was changed from "Java Creator James Gosling: Why I Quit Oracle" to "Why I Quit Oracle". https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15163932 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15163932 It doesn't make sense.

hardwaresofton 8y ago
Your example (taken with this one) actually makes it make more sense though -- seems like they remove names from articles. I don't know why the mods have chosen to do that (I'm not going to speculate because there could be lots of reasons), but at the very least they're doing it consistently.
- TomK32 8y ago
  well, it's a very different thing if the title is "Why I quit Oracle" or "Java Creator: Why I quit Oracle" and when it's all about removing name the consequence would have been a meaningless "Why I quit".

dang 8y ago

We often remove names from titles, because HN works better when the focus is on content rather than personalities. https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comment&storyText=false&prefix=false&page=0&query=by:dang%20content%20personalities https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comme...

smacktoward 8y ago
But it's an interview with a specific person, focused entirely on her work. The entire content of the article is tied to who she is and what she does. Removing her name from the headline just obliterates the value of the headline as a way to determine what you're going to see when you land on the other side of the link. This is a misguided policy and I hope you reconsider it.
- hardwaresofton 8y ago
  Just want to note that I'm on the other side of this -- I think this is a great moderation policy for this specific forum. Including names seems like a good way to: - let people exercise their people-related biases - encourage gaming of the system by appealing to authority - encourage gossip-y headlines "X's techchruch interview whatever whatever" > Removing her name from the headline just obliterates the value of the headline as a way to determine what you're going to see when you land on the other side of the link. I'm not sure I agree with this at all... What she did is what's valuable right? When I clicked that headline, I expect to see something or some process that is actually bringing transparency to ER prices. Also at the end of the day HN isn't a democracy :), but I think I happen to fall in the majority here (or at least in line with what was decided).
trumped 8y ago
You forgot to remove the name from this post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18295942 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18295942 ... or is Tesla not a name?
- dang 8y ago