5 ms·

HN moderators edit submission titles so that they match the submitted articles. Except in the cases where they arbitrarily change it to their liking. Like tur

HN moderators edit submission titles so that they match the submitted articles. Except in the cases where they arbitrarily change it to their liking. Like turning "laid off" into "let go."

skwosh 11y ago
If only there was a way to submit both the original title and some kind of summary...
- krapp 11y ago
  Then the moderators would just edit the title and summary as they see fit.
  - fukhnmods 11y ago
    It's almost like the mods are complete tards!
dang 11y ago
We don't change titles arbitrarily and we certainly don't euphemize. Turning "laid off" into "let go" sounds like nothing we'd do, and there's nothing like it in the logs, so I don't believe we did this.
- jallmann 11y ago
  IMO the newer title enforcement policies are worse than the old ones. The old ones might have been unreasonably rigid, but at least they were consistent. Right now the policy is "Keep the original title... unless we feel like it." The definition of "linkbait" here is so vague that it destroys any possibility for creative expression (remember the days when writing a good headline was an art?) and reinforces the notion that HN has no sense of humor. That's without getting into the separate tendency that original user-submitted titles (whether or not it matches the article title) often capture the essence of what's actually interesting to the audience here. Subsequent edits then lose that association -- making it less likely that I (or other people) will click through. Linkbait, you say? That's the whole point, I say. In this case: Sure, the article's original title was hyperbolic. But so what? It's hyperbolic to good effect, and gives a feel for the tone of the rest of the article.
  - dang 11y ago
    HN's title policy hasn't changed since 2012. People sometimes mistakenly think we say to use the original title no matter what, but that's never been the case. If we allowed linkbait in titles, the threads would mostly be about linkbait in titles. This effect is strong, reliable, and immediate. Therefore we don't allow linkbait in titles. As for "unless we feel like it," nothing could be less true. The way we edit titles isn't algorithmic but it's at least semi-objective, and you'd be surprised at how meticulous we are. It's easy to defend in nearly any specific case (we make mistakes, of course, but that's not a policy), which is why when people complain about it, they tend to either kvetch vaguely or use inaccurate examples.
    - jallmann 11y ago
      The written guidelines might not have changed, but the enforcement policies certainly have. So instead of complaining about linkbait in titles, people complain about changing the title. Always going to be something to complain about... Anyway, I understand it's a hard thing to balance systematically. Titles aside, HN is still a much improved place under the "new regime". Thanks for your ongoing efforts with transparency and communication here.
      - dang 11y ago
        > the enforcement policies certainly have I have to think you're falling prey to sample bias here. I'm the one setting the enforcement policies and can assure you they haven't changed. I also don't see as many complaints about title changes as I used to; that may be because we started posting comments about particular edits, so it's easier for people to know what's going on. The current thread is an exception, but it's ok if this stuff comes up occasionally and has a hearing.
        JadeNB 11y ago
        For the record, I wasn't arguing about it; I just didn't understand the reason. I do now!
  - 11y ago
- forgottenpass 11y ago
  https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8973023 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8973023 Did the user edit it? I remember commenting at the time bacause I had two tabs open to the same discussion opened some time apart from each other and the title was different on them.
  - dang 11y ago
    I don't have a record of the original title but the submitter definitely edited the post, and the only change we made to it was turning off the automatic penalty for posts without URLs. If you noticed all the times we've changed "f* * *" to "fuck" in titles, I doubt you'd have suspected us of bowdlerizing that one. :)

HN moderators edit submission titles so that they match the submitted articles. Except in the cases where they arbitrarily change it to their liking. Like turning "laid off" into "let go."

skwosh 11y ago

If only there was a way to submit both the original title and some kind of summary...

krapp 11y ago
Then the moderators would just edit the title and summary as they see fit.
- fukhnmods 11y ago
  It's almost like the mods are complete tards!

dang 11y ago

We don't change titles arbitrarily and we certainly don't euphemize. Turning "laid off" into "let go" sounds like nothing we'd do, and there's nothing like it in the logs, so I don't believe we did this.

jallmann 11y ago
IMO the newer title enforcement policies are worse than the old ones. The old ones might have been unreasonably rigid, but at least they were consistent. Right now the policy is "Keep the original title... unless we feel like it." The definition of "linkbait" here is so vague that it destroys any possibility for creative expression (remember the days when writing a good headline was an art?) and reinforces the notion that HN has no sense of humor. That's without getting into the separate tendency that original user-submitted titles (whether or not it matches the article title) often capture the essence of what's actually interesting to the audience here. Subsequent edits then lose that association -- making it less likely that I (or other people) will click through. Linkbait, you say? That's the whole point, I say. In this case: Sure, the article's original title was hyperbolic. But so what? It's hyperbolic to good effect, and gives a feel for the tone of the rest of the article.
- dang 11y ago
  HN's title policy hasn't changed since 2012. People sometimes mistakenly think we say to use the original title no matter what, but that's never been the case. If we allowed linkbait in titles, the threads would mostly be about linkbait in titles. This effect is strong, reliable, and immediate. Therefore we don't allow linkbait in titles. As for "unless we feel like it," nothing could be less true. The way we edit titles isn't algorithmic but it's at least semi-objective, and you'd be surprised at how meticulous we are. It's easy to defend in nearly any specific case (we make mistakes, of course, but that's not a policy), which is why when people complain about it, they tend to either kvetch vaguely or use inaccurate examples.
  - jallmann 11y ago
    The written guidelines might not have changed, but the enforcement policies certainly have. So instead of complaining about linkbait in titles, people complain about changing the title. Always going to be something to complain about... Anyway, I understand it's a hard thing to balance systematically. Titles aside, HN is still a much improved place under the "new regime". Thanks for your ongoing efforts with transparency and communication here.
    - dang 11y ago
      > the enforcement policies certainly have I have to think you're falling prey to sample bias here. I'm the one setting the enforcement policies and can assure you they haven't changed. I also don't see as many complaints about title changes as I used to; that may be because we started posting comments about particular edits, so it's easier for people to know what's going on. The current thread is an exception, but it's ok if this stuff comes up occasionally and has a hearing.
      - JadeNB 11y ago
        For the record, I wasn't arguing about it; I just didn't understand the reason. I do now!
- 11y ago
forgottenpass 11y ago
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8973023 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8973023 Did the user edit it? I remember commenting at the time bacause I had two tabs open to the same discussion opened some time apart from each other and the title was different on them.
- dang 11y ago
  I don't have a record of the original title but the submitter definitely edited the post, and the only change we made to it was turning off the automatic penalty for posts without URLs. If you noticed all the times we've changed "f* * *" to "fuck" in titles, I doubt you'd have suspected us of bowdlerizing that one. :)