••• Could people please have thread titles we understand? •••

[breadandwine]

I keep reading thread titles like "The thing I don't understand is" and then we don't know WHAT he doesn't understand unless we click on it.

Let me just say that I almost never read those sorts of threads. I spend a lot of time reading DU and if I read even only a small portion of the threads with titles that explain what the threads are about I still wouldn't have time to read the ones that are a crap shoot as far as whether I'd be interested in them is concerned.

So I only click on threads that have a title that attracts my interest.

All those with something important to say are losing out by not having thread titles that make sense. Nothing personal but there are plenty of thread topics I'm just not interested in, and I'm sure that's true of everyone. To add to this that some of the threads don't even say what they are about in the title is just too much of a tangent for me to click on them.

All you have to do is spend a few moments figuring out how to capture the subject of your thread in the title and you will get more interest.

Why not try it?

[scheming daemons]

1. I had to click on your thread because I couldn't figure out what the title meant....

;-)

[breadandwine]

3. At least it was a complete sentence, which is more than I can say for some thread titles.

....

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. Good idea!

I always try to have as catchy a thread title as I can reasonably come up with so that people will look at my thread!

It just makes sense, ya know?

:hi:

[breadandwine]

5. Thanks. It's not rocket science.

....

[Vickers]

4. You're really barking at a hurricane with this request.

Some people are just prone to enigmatic, incomplete thread titles, and the practice is not unique to DU.

[smalll]

6. •••

•••

I love your ovals! I'll have to remember to find one of your OPs the next time I start a "BREAKING HARD!" thread to copy-and-paste some of them -- I'm no computer whiz, so I usually just make do with the asterisks.

[breadandwine]

7. Some people have thread titles like, "The other day I was thinking"

or:

"Um, you know what?"

[pipoman]

8. No

[breadandwine]

10. Hey. You want a really GOOD answer to a silly question? Check out this:

What's the difference between a duck?


Answer:


One of its legs are both the same.

[Fearless]

9. I don't mean to poke fun, really, but did you know...

That your title reads "Could people please have thread" on the main page?

:+

[breadandwine]

11. I think that's only specific to the way your computer is set up. Mine shows the title in full.

...

[Fearless]

13. I actually agree with you and your whole premise...

It was just too ironic to pass up... Third on the GD list.

[breadandwine]

17. Ah. I see. I was looking elsewhere. Well, lots of the threads listed there have chopped off titles.

Could be prevented if they allowed more than one line for those threads in that section, or something like that.

[pinboy3niner]

12. That's good advice

You might have expanded it to include "mystery" videos--the ones introduced by a subject line saying something like, "You gotta see this!" with no further information about the content. It may matter less if it's a 30-second clip, but there's no way I'm going to click on a 5- or 6- or 7-minute mystery video.

The longer I'm here, the more selective and efficient I try to be in choosing what I look at. It should be a no-brainer that anyone posting something that he/she believes is worth attention would want to "sell" it with an appropriate subject line and description.

[breadandwine]

14. "Hey. Check this out!"

"You'd never know it but"


"Dig on THIS."

[Recursion]

15. ••• Could people stick to ASCII in titles? •••

For those of us on non-graphic terminals?

[Prometheus Bound]

16. The only time I've ever clicked on one of those is when it is near the top of the Greatest Page

which is almost never.

[breadandwine]

18. Um, ya know what?

....

[Johonny]

19. so I have to guess what you can and can't understand before writing a title?

or do I just assume you're stupid ahead of time and write "just one click away from free beer!"

[Nye Bevan]

20. Oh my God, Words fail me. You have *got* to see this. (nt)