Thread titles must contain subject of thread

Discussion in 'Site Announcements' started by skip, Sep 20, 2006.

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  1. skip

    skip Founder Administrator

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    When creating a new thread, if you don't put the actual subject of the thread in the thread title, your whole thread is subject to deletion or closure.

    Thread titles like "Hi" or "hahaha" or ":0)" or anything that does not accurately describe the subject of the thread is unacceptable.

    Titles are very important so that our members know before they click on a thread what they will find there. It saves a lot of time, a lot of bandwidth, a lot of frustration if you properly identify the subject in the thread title.

    If you want your thread to get a lot of attention, include the subject in the title because the search engines index that title and so anyone searching for your particular subject can find your thread on the forums.

    So take a moment and THINK about the subject title before you start a new thread. This just makes sense.

    Posting numerous threads without proper titles might result in the member being banned.

    Got it?
     
    2BeZen and Pete's Draggin' like this.
  2. skip

    skip Founder Administrator

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    Gee it's funny YOU should post the first response.

    Get used to it. You've been warned.
     
  3. honeyhannah

    honeyhannah herbuhslovuh

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    I suppose, this will help.

    But I have a question, what about personal forums. I looked over my threads before posting this, most of them contain the subject in the title. But since I know that we have the hover option on this forum, and I'm a writer and think in terms of a creative statement with my titles sometimes... such as with people who I know will get it, usually, if not always, in personal forums. I just wonder if this is okay.
     
  4. skip

    skip Founder Administrator

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    We're less concerned about private forums. Hovering is good practice before selecting a thread to view, but the other reasons are still valid for putting the subject in.

    You don't need to worry about old threads, just new ones.

    I would much rather see descriptive titles than ones just used to entice people to view the thread. Many times they are misleading, and that is unfair.

    This is just good netiquette. People who disregard this rule are no better than spammers cause they both just want your attention, regardless of whether you're actually interested.

    Why waste your time pouring over threads that are not interesting just because the titles sound interesting...or vague enough to get you to click just to find out more.

    Anyone who has been here as long as Insane Jester should know better.

    And posting up an insulting banner is sure to get you banned.
     
    2BeZen likes this.
  5. Duck

    Duck quack. Lifetime Supporter

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    isn't that the point of the first few words popping up when you point?
     
  6. skip

    skip Founder Administrator

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    Depending upon which thread list you're looking at you may or may NOT see a preview of the first post.

    Recent unacceptable thread titles I've seen just today include:

    "A question"
    "breaking news"
    "everybody..."
    "fuck"

    What would you think if EVERY thread had a title like that?
    Also having to go thru a list and preview everything is a waste of time too. You shouldn't have to do that at all.

    And I often hear from people that they can't find threads they participated in and it's usually do to a title that says NOTHING about the subject of the thread.
     
  7. Duck

    Duck quack. Lifetime Supporter

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    I think threads that have titles that don't describe the thread are often more interesting than the ones that do

    also, alot of times in random thoughts and young hippies especially, the convo the thread changes drastically from the original topic, you can't really avoid that too much

    and I think that too many rules are a huge problem in today's society, I would not like to see the fora reflect that

    I mean, it's your site and all, and I am not yet a supporting member (need that bank account), but I would hope that you reconsider this, or exactly how you are going to go about this

    personally, I think that the only threads that should contain soemthign descriptive in the title, are threads that are meant to have useful information
    such as a thread with a question that alot of other people may have or what not
     
  8. skip

    skip Founder Administrator

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    Yes, well we also have a rule against threads of "no value" of which most in RT forum qualify.

    If you can't think up a decent title for your thread, then don't bother to post it, cause it's probably not worth our time to read.

    I'm teaching you all netiquette, because so many are in need of it.

    The reason this site is so popular and successful is because people ARE following the guidelines we set out. There's good reasons behind all of them.

    We're not going to be nazis about this, but if people follow this rule it will benefit everyone.

    If someone's going to demand our attention, they had better give us a reason for it in the title.

    What do all these titles have in common?
    "A question"
    "breaking news"
    "everybody..."
    "fuck"

    An attempt to get your attention by revealing NOTHING about what the thread contains, that's what.

    And actually the more I have to write about this subject the more pissed off I get, especially when others just don't get it.

    If I have to respond & explain this again, I will instead just start deleting threads with unacceptable titles (without even reading them.) Got it?
     
  9. hippiehillbilly

    hippiehillbilly the old asshole

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    well theres a "fuck" titled thread in young hippies as i type..

    its not been closed,..

    is it subject to the moderaters discretion..

    or is it a 0 tolerance policy??
     
  10. skip

    skip Founder Administrator

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    As I said:
    1. "We're not gonna be nazis about it."
    2. "You don't need to worry about old threads, just new ones."

    do I need to repeat again?
     
  11. skip

    skip Founder Administrator

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    Here's another reason to put the subject in titles...

    I just did a survey of threads and I can tell you with 100% certainty that threads that have descriptive titles average at least TWICE as many views as those that don't.

    That is the MOST obvious and possibly the BEST reason to do it. And that is why we are requiring this.

    So if you just title something:
    "Damn!"
    You will probably get only a fraction of the hits as you would by titling it
    "Damn my parents!"

    Can you see the difference? Just adding two words tells us a WHOLE lot about what to expect. (I can't believe I actually have to spell this out for people!)

    This is a hard and fast rule of the Internet.

    So if you don't bother to put the subject in the title, then you're really not that interested in getting responses, so why should we even host the thread and waste the forum space?

    This goes for ANYTHING you do on the Internet, journal entries, email, webpages, etc.

    It's common courtesy AND sensible.

    BTW, I never could count all the threads titled "damn". And that is just one example.
     
  12. Duck

    Duck quack. Lifetime Supporter

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    well, "damn" does tell you that the thread will most likely be a rant
     
  13. skip

    skip Founder Administrator

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    Yes, but it doesn't distinguish between the 100 other "damn" threads floating about, now does it?
     
  14. Duck

    Duck quack. Lifetime Supporter

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    yeah but, individualism is getting pretty boring :p
     
  15. skip

    skip Founder Administrator

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    Admit it, you people who can't be bothered to think of a decent title are just plain LAZY!
     
  16. ihmurria

    ihmurria fini

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    Oi.

    Well, will people at least be getting a warning or two about inappropriately titled threads before they're banned for repeat offences?

    Here's my take on it though... a "damn" thread by me is guaranteed to be different than a "damn" thread by, say, hhb. And it'll attract different folks. Yes part of that is a little clique-y but, well, such is RT or YH.

    I understand that it'd be nice to have really detailed thread titles, but then it would also be nice to tag our threads so that when folks search for something it'd link to that (other than exact words within the thread, subject headers or related terms). And I honestly don't think that it will have a noticeable impact on bandwidth, because a lot of us are just plain nosy and like poking into almost every thread we spot (particularly in RT).
     
  17. skip

    skip Founder Administrator

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    Their warning will be in the form of deleted threads. It's already begun. The only way to save those threads is to get a sympathetic mod to retitle and undelete the thread.
     
  18. indescribability

    indescribability Not To Be Continued

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    Perhaps it could be made possible to change the title of your own threads in light of this new rule?
     
  19. skip

    skip Founder Administrator

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    Since it only applies to NEW postings it doesn't matter.
     
  20. cerridwen

    cerridwen in stitches

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    I think it absolutely makes sense. Clear titles = easy to skim over.

    Quick question: about this 'rated threads' business, since I think it might fall under the topic of this thread... It's almost never used, and when it is, it usually is someone who's rating it for the sake of rating it.... I remember going through RT forum and whoever did it just went through a slew of threads giving them all 5 stars, which was done, I assume, out of bordom.

    Is the ratings on threads actually serve purpose or can this option be omitted? Just a thought.
     
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