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HN’s title “fixer” takes another victim. “Why you should use io_uring for network I/O” is not semantically the same as “Use io_uring for network I/O”. You can’t
by HL33tibCe7 4y ago
HN’s title “fixer” takes another victim. “Why you should use io_uring for network I/O” is not semantically the same as “Use io_uring for network I/O”. You can’t just swap one out for the other.
- fatneckbeard 4y ago[flagged]
- pcl 4y agoFWIW, the submitter of a post can edit the title even after the “fixer” runs.
- quickthrower2 4y agoThat relies on them spotting it, caring about it, knowing that they can edit it and not worried about undoing an automod operation.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- pcl 4y agoYeah — I’m not suggesting it’s perfect. Just highlighting what’s possible, since I didn’t discover that capability myself until like 3 weeks ago..!
- mfiguiere 4y agoI've actually edited the title back to the original title after the "fixer" changed it. But it's been later "fixed" again. Looks like there's sometimes a second pass of fixing after which edits are no longer possible.
- heyoni 4y agoI guess the difference is that there’s an implied alternative?
- cttet 4y agoInteresting that you call them "fixer"s, but the point to "fix" is that the meaning is not the same and they want to change it right? If they are the same, why would they have the incentive to "fix" it?
- dang 4y agoTitle fixer here. "Why you should" is a linkbait trope. We remove those. I don't see how it changed the meaning, and certainly not significantly.
- iudqnolq 4y agoWhy aren't your user activity based bad content detectors sufficient? I'd rather have linkbait deranked than disguised. In this case the title wasn't linkbait. If it was rewriting the title without rewriting the article wouldn't fix anything for me.
- dang 4y agoI'm not sure what you mean by "user activity based bad content detectors" but if we didn't edit titles, the threads would fill up with complaints about titles—vastly more than they already do. There would be other negative differences too, such as a front page filled with sensationalism. Moreover, these effects aren't static—they produce feedback loops. The way HN edits titles, which has been the case since the beginning, is fundamental to how the site works and what it is. "Why you should" is a linkbait trope, sorry. The use of the pronoun "you" in titles is usually already a linkbait trope because it grabs the user's attention ("hey—you!") in a way that has nothing to do with the content. Headline writers figured this out a long time ago. I'm not saying the OP did it deliberately.
- iudqnolq 4y ago> I'm not sure what you mean by "user activity based bad content detectors" I meant that if an article leads to a poor quality discussion you already have ways to detect that and derank it after the discussion starts going bad. > "Why you should" is a linkbait trope, sorry. "Why you should be using io_uring" communicates to me that there will be an argument for why it's better. "Using io_uring" suggests a more neutral article. > but if we didn't edit titles, the threads would fill up with complaints about titles In this case I'm assuming the complaints would be that you shouldn't use io_uring because it's bad. Editing the title here only fixed the issue for people who didn't read the article then. > The way HN edits titles, which has been the case since the beginning, is fundamental to how the site works and what it is. Fair enough. Thanks for taking the time to explain.
- pxeger1 4y agoIt's not intended to leave it having the exact same meaning.