4 ms·
Please don’t editorialize titles, four out of five times the editorialized title is strictly worse, and often it’s straight up wrong, like in this case. If you
by oefrha 7y ago
Please don’t editorialize titles, four out of five times the editorialized title is strictly worse, and often it’s straight up wrong, like in this case. If you don’t like the original title due to omission of info, you can at least use the HTML title:
> wikiHow’s art is made by a global network of freelancers, primarily in the Philippines.
(Emphasis mine.)
- colmvp 7y agoOP's headline saves you a click, versus the original title: "We Finally Figured Out Who Makes wikiHow’s Bizarre Art"
- oefrha 7y agoYeah, if you saved that click you also got the wrong idea. I even proposed a better official title. Makes me wonder if you read my comment at all.
- andai 7y agoI know editorializing is against the rules but I love the current title, "WikiHow's bizarre art is created by an army of freelancers in the Philippines", it sounds so quaint and absurd.
- oefrha 7y agoYou can love what you love. I prefer a factual title.
- blackearl 7y agoI don't see how the current title isn't factual
- oefrha 7y agoI guess <em> isn’t doing its job, so let me temporarily break the guidelines: “GLOBAL network of freelancers, PRIMARILY in the Philippines” != “an army of freelancers in the Philippines”.
- lovich 7y agoThose are functionally equivalent imo. The NYPD operates in other cities and countries. I wouldn't expect people to preface a description of them by saying they were a global police force based primarily in the Phillipines
- capableweb 7y agoI don't think so. > GLOBAL network of freelancers, PRIMARILY in the Philippines Would mean: freelancers from all over the world, but most of them in the Philippines. While > an army of freelancers in the Philippines Would mean: freelancers from the Philippines, and only in the Philippines. At least that's my view as a non-native speaker, so maybe worth about 2 cents.
- tcookisfakeaf 7y agoLet me save you a click, & the authors future banal efforts: utilitarian work is a global effort of freelancers. Some just have different obligations as part of their freelance work than others. Shock. Awe.
- onetimemanytime 7y agoThe adjusted title is factual. 2+2=4 is factual. A title is not, because whoever created it had a purpose in mind (I'm being generous.)
- LudwigNagasena 7y agoSaves more than a click because it requires you to sign in to read the article.
- grammarxcore 7y agoThis isn't paywalled Medium content so you can simply find the close button and click it, be it on the sliding banner or the modal. That being said, that action does require an extra click.
- tptacek 7y agoSaving a click is probably an anti-goal of HN article titles.
- onetimemanytime 7y agoin this case, I say it's OK
- solarkraft 7y agoI honestly prefer a headline that tells me a bit of the main point over one that doesn't.
- bryanrasmussen 7y agosuggested title is 8 characters too long for submission. on edit: changed original to suggested as being clearer.
- dang 7y agoThe HTML doc title is "wikiHow’s Art Is Made By a Global Network of Freelancers, Primarily in the Philippines". That's too long to fit HN's 80 char limit, so it looks like the submitter made a good-faith attempt at shortening it, and an inaccuracy crept in that way—quite a minor inaccuracy. The submitted title ("WikiHow's art is created by an army of freelancers in the Philippines") was still far better than the sensational dross of the page heading. HTML doc titles are a legit choice for "original title" in the HN guidelines' sense. In fact, they often say more directly what the article is about when the loudest title on a page is linkbait. That's exactly the case here, so I think the misleadingness of the submitted title ("WikiHow's art is created by an army of freelancers in the Philippines") was simply a casualty of HN's 80-char limit. That's pretty rare btw. I've taken a crack at shortening it in a more accurate way.