4 ms·

Something along the lines of "ZFS gotchas" or "ZFS caveats", perhaps? Unrelated: I really don't think dang's post here warranted downvoting. I expect that it's

by rosser 12y ago

Something along the lines of "ZFS gotchas" or "ZFS caveats", perhaps? Unrelated: I really don't think dang's post here warranted downvoting. I expect that it's being done by folks who really want HN's moderators to know they're unhappy about titles being changed as capriciously as they sometimes are. This post is an actual moderator soliciting actual input on how to make at least one instance of that problem better, however, and I think that should be encouraged, not dinged.

dang 12y ago
Ok, we changed it to "ZFS Gotchas" because the body of the article more or less uses that word. It's ok for dang to get dinged. But "capricious"? No. I realize it sometimes seems that way to people paying sporadic attention, but every change we make is in keeping with the HN guidelines, and those are hardly secret or unclear. We make mistakes, of course, and are always open to improvement. The helpful way to criticize an HN title is to suggest a better one.
- lmm 12y ago
  It may be the case that every change is in keeping with the guidelines, but it's certainly not the case that the guidelines are applied consistently. Looking at stories where the submitter added some useful, non-linkbaity detail that wasn't in the original title, it seems entirely arbitrary whether that detail will be left in place or cut from the title. And belittling your users' experience like that ("sporadic attention"?) will make you few friends. Better policy a): Don't change the titles users submit. Trust the community to flag linkbait titles. Better policy b): Don't allow users to submit a title. Automatically scrape the title from the linked page. Have moderators change the titles when they're unhelpful or misleading (this is much less likely to annoy users than the current system, because the moderator wouldn't be replacing the submitter's title, it would be the HN system replacing another part of the HN system). edit: Suggest a better title rather than suggest a better policy? How is one supposed to suggest a better title? There is no form for that, and it's not something to clutter the comments with.

by rosser 12y ago

dang 12y ago

Ok, we changed it to "ZFS Gotchas" because the body of the article more or less uses that word. It's ok for dang to get dinged. But "capricious"? No. I realize it sometimes seems that way to people paying sporadic attention, but every change we make is in keeping with the HN guidelines, and those are hardly secret or unclear. We make mistakes, of course, and are always open to improvement. The helpful way to criticize an HN title is to suggest a better one.

lmm 12y ago
It may be the case that every change is in keeping with the guidelines, but it's certainly not the case that the guidelines are applied consistently. Looking at stories where the submitter added some useful, non-linkbaity detail that wasn't in the original title, it seems entirely arbitrary whether that detail will be left in place or cut from the title. And belittling your users' experience like that ("sporadic attention"?) will make you few friends. Better policy a): Don't change the titles users submit. Trust the community to flag linkbait titles. Better policy b): Don't allow users to submit a title. Automatically scrape the title from the linked page. Have moderators change the titles when they're unhelpful or misleading (this is much less likely to annoy users than the current system, because the moderator wouldn't be replacing the submitter's title, it would be the HN system replacing another part of the HN system). edit: Suggest a better title rather than suggest a better policy? How is one supposed to suggest a better title? There is no form for that, and it's not something to clutter the comments with.