diy solar

diy solar

Thread titles too often not valid - like "HELP!" or "Information Please"

OnTheRoadAgain

Solar Enthusiast
Joined
Feb 22, 2021
Messages
643
When people don't use a title that describes their content or question, it deprives the search index of the ability to find that content to help others later.

ALL posts should have a Title which accurately reflects the concern or content

Is this in the forum rules?

I see it happening a lot lately.
 
Yeah, it's a shame that with all the bells and whistles they add to forums they can't add something that checks Titles for legitimacy and relevance.
 
On a very similar note, have the mods considered manually re-titling ambiguous thread titles as one comes across them? For example, on bogleheads.org (a finance website I frequent), when a poster creates something ambiguous like: "Help - SO MAD", an admin would re-title the thread with an addition like "Help - SO MAD [Credit Card Stolen]" or "Smoker Recommendations" might be re-titled "Smoker Recommendations [Marlboros, Camels]" to make things clearer to find. These are just weird examples I've come across. Post #2 about the smokers would help an individual save time from trying to search for Traeger advice.

Screenshot example:

1621966336061.png

I feel like adding brackets and 1-3 words to ambiguous threads could be a polite way to add clarity something without making the OP feel nitpicked. I figured I would share this technique that seems to work well on that site. They probably adjust one title every 50-100 threads or so. Anyways, I'm sure its quite a challenge to manage hundreds of posts and thousands of accounts while keeping flames down, so if you don't consider doing the above I understand. I imagine the small team here stays more than busy enough.
 
It's been discussed by the mods, essentially it falls into the same case AS PEOPLE THAT LIKE TO TYPE IN ALL UPPER CASE. That is we don't want to limit members when it's not necessary.

So, the onus is on the reader. If you don't like something in the body/title just skip it, ignore the poster, etc. Think of it as like Amish shunning.
Or, if you feel inclined, reply with "You might like: Increasing the odds of getting a response to your thread"
 
Yeah, the mods do enough already. Either ignore or chide 'em, your choice. I'm old and lazy so you can guess what I do...
 
When people don't use a title that describes their content or question, it deprives the search index of the ability to find that content to help others later.

this is quite analogous to the situation where the new person on the job has no clue how to get the information for xyz, and the expert types a certain phrase into the search bar and "poof", they turn to the new person and state "how much simpler could this be?"

the premise that somebody "knows" how to phrase the question to get the exact help they need in itself implies you believe that person may have more knowledge than they in reality possess...
How well you phrase a question(or title) is often a key indicator into exactly how well versed you are on the subject matter at hand.

when you really just have no clue, well, thats what helpful forums are for ;-)
 
Back
Top