5 ms·

The way the title is worded indicates there's something special, novel, or innovative about the bike when, in fact, there's not. The 80mph was achieved by draft

The way the title is worded indicates there's something special, novel, or innovative about the bike when, in fact, there's not. The 80mph was achieved by drafting behind a vehicle.

wyclif 13y ago
The title actually implies no such thing; I didn't even use any adjectives wrt the bike. So in your opinion, I should have written "Englishman builds bike capable of 80mph on flat surfaces with the help of a drafting vehicle, a machine shop, and a landing strip." Right?
- honzzz 13y ago
  I have to agree with JungleGymSam - the title does imply that there is something special about the bike because people assume that it's a 'bike capable of 80mph' under normal conditions. I guess people do not expect that it was achieved with the help of a drafting vehicle because than there would be absolutely nothing newsworthy about it, at least to people who know something about cycling. Anyone who has the experience of riding in peloton at 50 km/h without even pedaling knows that aerodynamic drag is everything - any racing bike is capable of 80mph with the help of a drafting vehicle.
- anigbrowl 13y ago
  'Drafting allows bike to travel at mph' would have been more accurate and just as interesting. I liked the project and the people involved, but I was expecting a bike that could do 80mph by itself thanks to some bizarre engineering insight.
  - wyclif 13y ago
    This is exactly why HN has guidelines for editing story titles. You can't win as a submitter. I should have left it unedited as "Bike blog: Experiments in Speed [video]" which doesn't tell HN readers much about what the story is about. Someone will always, always complain that the title wasn't descriptive enough or is somehow inaccurate, no matter how long it is. Lesson learned. This is probably the last time I try to edit for clarity.
    - anigbrowl 13y ago
      You have 10k karma so you can do mod bribes from the secret menu now. That's been the key to my success.
    - foobarian 13y ago
      There's no need to get upset. Writing clearly and coming up with good names are hard, and routinely take multiple iterations to get right. I run into this all the time while coding. There are times when I get lazy and use a function or class name that I know deep down is not right, and a code review will catch it, and then we'll spend 15 minutes mulling over a better name. In this process though, we are forced to think deeply about the problem being solved, and often gain extra insights. All from a couple of words!
      - wyclif 13y ago
        Not upset, just thinking out loud.
    - JungleGymSam 13y ago
      Maybe that's your problem: you're trying to "win".

The way the title is worded indicates there's something special, novel, or innovative about the bike when, in fact, there's not. The 80mph was achieved by drafting behind a vehicle.

wyclif 13y ago

The title actually implies no such thing; I didn't even use any adjectives wrt the bike. So in your opinion, I should have written "Englishman builds bike capable of 80mph on flat surfaces with the help of a drafting vehicle, a machine shop, and a landing strip." Right?

honzzz 13y ago
I have to agree with JungleGymSam - the title does imply that there is something special about the bike because people assume that it's a 'bike capable of 80mph' under normal conditions. I guess people do not expect that it was achieved with the help of a drafting vehicle because than there would be absolutely nothing newsworthy about it, at least to people who know something about cycling. Anyone who has the experience of riding in peloton at 50 km/h without even pedaling knows that aerodynamic drag is everything - any racing bike is capable of 80mph with the help of a drafting vehicle.
anigbrowl 13y ago
'Drafting allows bike to travel at mph' would have been more accurate and just as interesting. I liked the project and the people involved, but I was expecting a bike that could do 80mph by itself thanks to some bizarre engineering insight.
- wyclif 13y ago
  This is exactly why HN has guidelines for editing story titles. You can't win as a submitter. I should have left it unedited as "Bike blog: Experiments in Speed [video]" which doesn't tell HN readers much about what the story is about. Someone will always, always complain that the title wasn't descriptive enough or is somehow inaccurate, no matter how long it is. Lesson learned. This is probably the last time I try to edit for clarity.
  - anigbrowl 13y ago
    You have 10k karma so you can do mod bribes from the secret menu now. That's been the key to my success.
  - foobarian 13y ago
    There's no need to get upset. Writing clearly and coming up with good names are hard, and routinely take multiple iterations to get right. I run into this all the time while coding. There are times when I get lazy and use a function or class name that I know deep down is not right, and a code review will catch it, and then we'll spend 15 minutes mulling over a better name. In this process though, we are forced to think deeply about the problem being solved, and often gain extra insights. All from a couple of words!
    - wyclif 13y ago
      Not upset, just thinking out loud.
  - JungleGymSam 13y ago
    Maybe that's your problem: you're trying to "win".