3 ms·

In accordance with Hacker News guidelines the headline should be: The key to becoming extraordinary.

dang 3y ago
That title is linkbait and therefore the submitter was correct to change it, according to the guideline: "Please use the original title, unless it is misleading or linkbait; don't editorialize." - https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html. They did an unusually tasteful job of finding a representative phrase from the article to serve as a better title. Well done! Edit: oops - it was a mod that edited the title. But I didn't know that when I wrote the above :)
- vultour 3y ago
  I don't see how the current title is any less linkbait, in fact the original would have never made me want to check it out.
  - bmacho 3y ago
    Very true. Clear, true title > mysterious title. In general, but according to the HN clickbait title rules as well.
    - dang 3y ago
      Mysterious titles aren't necessary linkbait. Not everything should explain itself right away—that follows from the principle of curiosity—and we've always taken the position that it's good for readers to have to work a little. https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sort=byDate&type=comment&query=%22work%20a%20little%22%20by:dang https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sor...
      - bmacho 3y ago
        Mysterious titles are linkbait from the user perspective. > Mysterious titles aren't necessary linkbait. Not everything should explain itself right away—that follows from the principle of curiosity—and we've always taken the position that it's good for readers to have to work a little. The HN guideline speaks against 'linkbait': Otherwise please use the original title, unless it is misleading or linkbait; don't editorialize. While it does not specify what 'linkbait' means, I believe the HN guideline wants links to be informative about their content. What else?
        dang 3y ago
        I think of linkbait as attention-grabbing mechanisms that take advantage of people's reflexes, cognitive biases, tendencies to get riled up, and so on.
  - dang 3y ago
    For me the difference is that "The key to becoming extraordinary" is just a garden-variety self-help blog title, whereas the Eno phrase is uncommon and thought-provoking.

dang 3y ago

That title is linkbait and therefore the submitter was correct to change it, according to the guideline: "Please use the original title, unless it is misleading or linkbait; don't editorialize." - https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html. They did an unusually tasteful job of finding a representative phrase from the article to serve as a better title. Well done! Edit: oops - it was a mod that edited the title. But I didn't know that when I wrote the above :)

vultour 3y ago
I don't see how the current title is any less linkbait, in fact the original would have never made me want to check it out.
- bmacho 3y ago
  Very true. Clear, true title > mysterious title. In general, but according to the HN clickbait title rules as well.
  - dang 3y ago
    Mysterious titles aren't necessary linkbait. Not everything should explain itself right away—that follows from the principle of curiosity—and we've always taken the position that it's good for readers to have to work a little. https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sort=byDate&type=comment&query=%22work%20a%20little%22%20by:dang https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sor...
    - bmacho 3y ago
      Mysterious titles are linkbait from the user perspective. > Mysterious titles aren't necessary linkbait. Not everything should explain itself right away—that follows from the principle of curiosity—and we've always taken the position that it's good for readers to have to work a little. The HN guideline speaks against 'linkbait': Otherwise please use the original title, unless it is misleading or linkbait; don't editorialize. While it does not specify what 'linkbait' means, I believe the HN guideline wants links to be informative about their content. What else?
      - dang 3y ago
        I think of linkbait as attention-grabbing mechanisms that take advantage of people's reflexes, cognitive biases, tendencies to get riled up, and so on.
- dang 3y ago
  For me the difference is that "The key to becoming extraordinary" is just a garden-variety self-help blog title, whereas the Eno phrase is uncommon and thought-provoking.