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I don’t like this automatic editing out of ‘how’ in titles. It just makes it slightly more confusing, especially with the unnecessary capitalisation not present

I don’t like this automatic editing out of ‘how’ in titles. It just makes it slightly more confusing, especially with the unnecessary capitalisation not present in the original. Cheap Light Transformed Civilisation How cheap light transformed civilisation The second sounds like an article; the first sounds like a chant you might hear shouted at some kind of protest.

airstrike 2y ago
FWIW, I disagree, and the poster always has the ability to edit the title for a while after submitting, so nothing is lost. Also this comes up so often and the feature hasn't been modified, which suggests it likely never will, which also makes it off topic for this post. A better approach is to write an article titled "How HN Editing Titles Makes Them Confusing", for example.
- xanderlewis 2y ago
  True, but not every poster knows they can edit it, or even notices it happening. It just seems like an arbitrary rule imposed simply because the word 'how' occurs frequently. However, I think it's actually more the capitalisation in this example that somehow offends me. It took my brain an extra few seconds to parse it.
vundercind 2y ago
The first is a title any time before the explosion of clickbait, when everyone started prepending “how” or “why” for some reason.
- xanderlewis 2y ago
  It's definitely fashion, but how is it 'clickbait'? Adding 'how' or 'why' doesn't seem to make one any more likely to click. I'm not sure you're right in thinking that such titles are so new; there've been standard wordings for titles since the dawn of books. Just think of the number of old treatises starting with 'on...' or 'concerning...', for example. Are they 'clickbait'?
  - vundercind 2y ago
    Clickbait is the tradition that made the “how” and “why” so standard that we’re having a discussion prompted by its feeling necessary when it isn’t, because that’s the pattern headlines must have now… popularized by clickbait. The clickbaitiest application of the pattern prepends a “how” or “why” and accompanies and article that doesn’t actually address the how or why, which is why they’re clickbait titles. This one at least arguably does address it, sort-of, even if that’s not quite its main focus.
deleted 2y ago
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airstrike 2y ago

FWIW, I disagree, and the poster always has the ability to edit the title for a while after submitting, so nothing is lost. Also this comes up so often and the feature hasn't been modified, which suggests it likely never will, which also makes it off topic for this post. A better approach is to write an article titled "How HN Editing Titles Makes Them Confusing", for example.

xanderlewis 2y ago
True, but not every poster knows they can edit it, or even notices it happening. It just seems like an arbitrary rule imposed simply because the word 'how' occurs frequently. However, I think it's actually more the capitalisation in this example that somehow offends me. It took my brain an extra few seconds to parse it.

vundercind 2y ago

The first is a title any time before the explosion of clickbait, when everyone started prepending “how” or “why” for some reason.

xanderlewis 2y ago
It's definitely fashion, but how is it 'clickbait'? Adding 'how' or 'why' doesn't seem to make one any more likely to click. I'm not sure you're right in thinking that such titles are so new; there've been standard wordings for titles since the dawn of books. Just think of the number of old treatises starting with 'on...' or 'concerning...', for example. Are they 'clickbait'?
- vundercind 2y ago
  Clickbait is the tradition that made the “how” and “why” so standard that we’re having a discussion prompted by its feeling necessary when it isn’t, because that’s the pattern headlines must have now… popularized by clickbait. The clickbaitiest application of the pattern prepends a “how” or “why” and accompanies and article that doesn’t actually address the how or why, which is why they’re clickbait titles. This one at least arguably does address it, sort-of, even if that’s not quite its main focus.

deleted 2y ago

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