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Ask HN: Why do my submitted titles get changed on HN?
A few times I have submitted pages where to titles get changed in surprising ways. Take today:
https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/25/wifi_7_ee_qualcomm/
The banner headline is "The home Wi-Fi upgrade we never asked for is coming. The one we need is not" - that is the one I used.
The HTML <title> is "The home Wi-Fi upgrade we never asked for is coming • The Register".
But it got changed to "EE is working with Qualcomm to add Wi-Fi 7 to consumer broadband hubs".
Any ideas why that happens?
- beardyw 3y agoAs an HN link https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37641812 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37641812
- ChrisArchitect 3y agoBecause it doesn't describe enough about what the story is about Also: post this question in the thread instead of starting a whole new one.
- AnimalMuppet 3y agoYeah. The HN guidelines say "Otherwise please use the original title, unless it is misleading or linkbait; don't editorialize." So if the headline does not really tell you what the story is about, that is arguably misleading, or clickbait, or both, and should be replaced with something more informative.
- beardyw 3y agoThanks, I try to avoid changing the headline, sounds like I do it a bit too much.
- mindcrime 3y agoThere are a few things that happen automatically to titles (removing numbers at the beginning, adding [pdf] and [video] tags, etc.) but for the most part two things seem to hold: 1. There's a preference for using the original title (mostly) as is 2. BUT, ultimately it's up to the mods' discretion. If they don't like a particular title because it seems misleading or clickbaity, they will sometimes change it. Sometimes they'll even change the submitted link - for example, changing to a better source for the story.