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This is a really click-baity title (My simple GitHub project went Viral). It should be edited.

by empiko 5y ago

nindalf 5y ago
It's the title of the original post and it's factually correct. What would your edited version be?
- Aachen 5y ago
  This "it's the original title" policy that gets thrown around a lot seems counter-productive to me by now. Someone will post an actual description of what's significant about a release, but then it gets edited to "ObscureName 1.2" which leaves you wondering: what is this? Should I care? Is it a software tool, a hardware product, can I eat it? Is it even news, a significant milestone that makes this a viable product that I'd like, or is 1.2 a version interesting for nostalgia? It tells me absolutely nothing, but yay it's the original title? Similarly here, it tells me every little about what the post is going to be. There's a bit of what happened, but also it's a writeup of what it is and how it's made. A better title might be "How I made an Open Source Clones List go Viral on GitHub" - just off the top of my head, you can probably do better, but it would already help you figure out whether you're interested in what it has to offer before having to click.
  - themulticaster 5y ago
    Well, the original title policy really is an official HN rule. On the other hand, I totally agree that titles consisting only of ObscureName are not very informative. From the current front page: 1. "Bernie Madoff Dies in Prison" - who's Bernie Madoff? 2. "Deno 1.9" - what's Deno? Is it edible? 3. "Yamauchi No.10 Family Office" - I have absolutely no idea what to expect Instead, why not write: 1. "Bernard Madoff, Mastermind of Giant Ponzi Scheme, Dies at 82" (original Bloomberg title, explains who Madoff is) 2. "Deno 1.9 (A secure runtime for JavaScript and TypeScript)" (short description taken from the official homepage) 3. I still have no idea what this is, maybe someone can enlighten me
    - nindalf 5y ago
      What's a runtime? What's JavaScript? I'm being facetious because "of course I can google that", but then I could google Deno too. Let's talk about how people use HN in practice on titles they don't understand. They open the thread and piece together context from the top few comments. And that's fine, it works.
  - eyelidlessness 5y ago
    The contravening point is my pet peeve on this site. Any title that starts with “How” gets that word edited out, presumably to mitigate clickbaitness, but it changes the way an article might be perceived in a way that makes it less interesting for familiar subject matter. “I did x with y” doesn’t much register to someone who knows y. But how they did it might.
- exegete 5y ago
  Not original commenter, but maybe “Open-source clones or alternatives of popular sites”? Something more descriptive about the content.
- crispyambulance 5y ago
  The title is perfectly fine or at least "good enough". HN is not like Stackoverflow with its persnickety rules. This topic generated some discussion including those who feel the title is not suitable. That's a success. Ironic to me that the ones objecting to the title say they value the time wasted to "click" but then write sentences explaining why that time was wasted. So x seconds to click and figure out you don't like the title and then 10x seconds to write a critique? Maybe just ignore it next time and move on with life?
  - Aachen 5y ago
    > ignore it next time and move on with life? You're making it sound as if this is about a single person clicking a single link and skimming until they find the necessary context (say, 15 seconds) to judge whether they want to continue reading, versus debating a topic in a subthread (minutes). Obviously, the actual point is that everyone needs to click many links whenever they visit HN and is continously sinking that time for as many useless titles as are being posted or as they can be bothered to click through on. (If needing to click to find out what it's about is fine, we should browse HN with only the stories' rank and no title at all.) We could instead choose to not religiously stick to applying a guideline on using the original title. After all, I would also like: > HN [to not be] like Stackoverflow with its persnickety rules.
  - skinnymuch 5y ago
    But if HN sticks hard to the original title rule. How is it not persnickety?
yosito 5y ago
s/click-baity/karma-farmy
cc_cccc 5y ago
I don't think you know what clickbait means. The title describes what he did perfectly without any addition.
sobserver 5y ago
>This is a really click-baity title Well, how else do you think they got a list of links put together in a github repo, to become viral in first place!

This is a really click-baity title (My simple GitHub project went Viral). It should be edited.

by empiko 5y ago

This is a really click-baity title (My simple GitHub project went Viral). It should be edited.

nindalf 5y ago

It's the title of the original post and it's factually correct. What would your edited version be?

Aachen 5y ago
This "it's the original title" policy that gets thrown around a lot seems counter-productive to me by now. Someone will post an actual description of what's significant about a release, but then it gets edited to "ObscureName 1.2" which leaves you wondering: what is this? Should I care? Is it a software tool, a hardware product, can I eat it? Is it even news, a significant milestone that makes this a viable product that I'd like, or is 1.2 a version interesting for nostalgia? It tells me absolutely nothing, but yay it's the original title? Similarly here, it tells me every little about what the post is going to be. There's a bit of what happened, but also it's a writeup of what it is and how it's made. A better title might be "How I made an Open Source Clones List go Viral on GitHub" - just off the top of my head, you can probably do better, but it would already help you figure out whether you're interested in what it has to offer before having to click.
- themulticaster 5y ago
  Well, the original title policy really is an official HN rule. On the other hand, I totally agree that titles consisting only of ObscureName are not very informative. From the current front page: 1. "Bernie Madoff Dies in Prison" - who's Bernie Madoff? 2. "Deno 1.9" - what's Deno? Is it edible? 3. "Yamauchi No.10 Family Office" - I have absolutely no idea what to expect Instead, why not write: 1. "Bernard Madoff, Mastermind of Giant Ponzi Scheme, Dies at 82" (original Bloomberg title, explains who Madoff is) 2. "Deno 1.9 (A secure runtime for JavaScript and TypeScript)" (short description taken from the official homepage) 3. I still have no idea what this is, maybe someone can enlighten me
  - nindalf 5y ago
    What's a runtime? What's JavaScript? I'm being facetious because "of course I can google that", but then I could google Deno too. Let's talk about how people use HN in practice on titles they don't understand. They open the thread and piece together context from the top few comments. And that's fine, it works.
- eyelidlessness 5y ago
  The contravening point is my pet peeve on this site. Any title that starts with “How” gets that word edited out, presumably to mitigate clickbaitness, but it changes the way an article might be perceived in a way that makes it less interesting for familiar subject matter. “I did x with y” doesn’t much register to someone who knows y. But how they did it might.
exegete 5y ago
Not original commenter, but maybe “Open-source clones or alternatives of popular sites”? Something more descriptive about the content.
crispyambulance 5y ago
The title is perfectly fine or at least "good enough". HN is not like Stackoverflow with its persnickety rules. This topic generated some discussion including those who feel the title is not suitable. That's a success. Ironic to me that the ones objecting to the title say they value the time wasted to "click" but then write sentences explaining why that time was wasted. So x seconds to click and figure out you don't like the title and then 10x seconds to write a critique? Maybe just ignore it next time and move on with life?
- Aachen 5y ago
  > ignore it next time and move on with life? You're making it sound as if this is about a single person clicking a single link and skimming until they find the necessary context (say, 15 seconds) to judge whether they want to continue reading, versus debating a topic in a subthread (minutes). Obviously, the actual point is that everyone needs to click many links whenever they visit HN and is continously sinking that time for as many useless titles as are being posted or as they can be bothered to click through on. (If needing to click to find out what it's about is fine, we should browse HN with only the stories' rank and no title at all.) We could instead choose to not religiously stick to applying a guideline on using the original title. After all, I would also like: > HN [to not be] like Stackoverflow with its persnickety rules.
- skinnymuch 5y ago
  But if HN sticks hard to the original title rule. How is it not persnickety?

yosito 5y ago

s/click-baity/karma-farmy

cc_cccc 5y ago

I don't think you know what clickbait means. The title describes what he did perfectly without any addition.

sobserver 5y ago

>This is a really click-baity title Well, how else do you think they got a list of links put together in a github repo, to become viral in first place!