5 ms·

The guidelines are not all hard and fast rules. Dang has explained in comment threads (that I don't have a link to right now) that editorializing titles is actu

The guidelines are not all hard and fast rules. Dang has explained in comment threads (that I don't have a link to right now) that editorializing titles is actually OK in some situations. Obviously the title should not be false or clickbait, which my title was not.

pvg 3y ago
No, it's the other way round. It's only ok to change it if it's misleading or clickbait, otherwise use original. You can't editorialize titles if they are not clickbait or misleading and the original wasn't. please use the original title, unless it is misleading or linkbait; don't editorialize. There are regular moderation comments about it, they just say the opposite of what you think they say https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&query=by%3Adang%20editorialize&sort=byDate&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...
- modeless 3y ago
  Again, this guideline is not a hard and fast rule. Those moderation comments you link to are for the very common case of posters adding their own strong opinions to article titles. The title I chose had no opinion and was merely a factual description of the article content. I'm afraid I won't be able to find dang's explanation of why it's sometimes OK to use different titles because it's drowned in the sea of moderation comments for egregious clickbait and highly opinionated submission titles.
  - pvg 3y ago
    No, editorializing is adding your opinion about what's important. You don't get to do that in a title, you can do that in a comment. That's exactly what those comments say. This particular thing is a pretty settled practice. Notice how the title was fixed. Because it was a bad title.
    - modeless 3y ago
      I changed it myself. Once the story is out of the "new" queue, having a snappy title is less important. I still did not use the exact article title as I think the content is better represented this way.
      - pvg 3y ago
        Adding 'snappy titles' to boost your submissions is exactly what the guideline asks you not to do. I'm not sure how it can be more straightforward or less prone to your misinterpretation.
        shadowgovt 3y ago
        "Please don't complain that a submission is inappropriate... Don't feed egregious comments by replying; flag them instead." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
        pvg 3y ago
        This is neither about the appropriateness of the submission nor are any of the comments egregious.

pvg 3y ago

No, it's the other way round. It's only ok to change it if it's misleading or clickbait, otherwise use original. You can't editorialize titles if they are not clickbait or misleading and the original wasn't. please use the original title, unless it is misleading or linkbait; don't editorialize. There are regular moderation comments about it, they just say the opposite of what you think they say https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&query=by%3Adang%20editorialize&sort=byDate&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...

modeless 3y ago
Again, this guideline is not a hard and fast rule. Those moderation comments you link to are for the very common case of posters adding their own strong opinions to article titles. The title I chose had no opinion and was merely a factual description of the article content. I'm afraid I won't be able to find dang's explanation of why it's sometimes OK to use different titles because it's drowned in the sea of moderation comments for egregious clickbait and highly opinionated submission titles.
- pvg 3y ago
  No, editorializing is adding your opinion about what's important. You don't get to do that in a title, you can do that in a comment. That's exactly what those comments say. This particular thing is a pretty settled practice. Notice how the title was fixed. Because it was a bad title.
  - modeless 3y ago
    I changed it myself. Once the story is out of the "new" queue, having a snappy title is less important. I still did not use the exact article title as I think the content is better represented this way.
    - pvg 3y ago
      Adding 'snappy titles' to boost your submissions is exactly what the guideline asks you not to do. I'm not sure how it can be more straightforward or less prone to your misinterpretation.
      - shadowgovt 3y ago
        "Please don't complain that a submission is inappropriate... Don't feed egregious comments by replying; flag them instead." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
        pvg 3y ago
        This is neither about the appropriateness of the submission nor are any of the comments egregious.