Just a thought..

My point precisely.

I am sure I am not the only one on ATS who thinks titles such as:

Freemason Questions...?
Whose Conspiracy is it?
So I went to see Nessie...

are inappropriate titles for threads. A board as large as ATS can not afford to have such ambiguous titles, in my opinion. I can not count how many threads that I could potentially be interested in that I skip over simply for having a ... or an ambiguous question mark at the end of a conspiratorial statement. And I also feel fairly confident that I am not the only one that feels the same way.

Thread titles such as:

Explosion Shuts Down Nuclear Reactor In Sweden
Chinese Sub within range of the 7th Fleet, Surprises the Kitty Hawk

I know it is asking a lot for the Moderators to police the forums to the extent that the titles are as descriptive as that, perhaps the Admin's could lay out some new rules. But moderators and members, please support me that the naming of threads is beginning to get counterproductive. The site has grown so large, and that is a good thing, that I personally do not think ambiguous titles are needed to attract new members, you have your audience already and I know it grows daily.

[edit on 14-11-2006 by Baphomet79]

What is wrong with my title? ("Explosion Shuts Down Nuclear Reactor In Sweden")


Would you suggest another title?





Or do you mean it's not newsworthy?

I think he was giving your title, Helmut, as an example of the right way to do it.

Yours sounds very professional and not at all speculative. That's what you're saying, right Baphomet79?

I guess I misunderstood...



thanks

Exactly, Helmut your title leaves nothing up to speculation, it interests me from the get go (although it is irrelevant whether I am interested or not, people who are, will know to view such a post simply from the title,) thus I read the thread. I am just tired of threads with open ended titles where you have to read a portion of it simply to know what the OP reasoning was for posting it. That was my point.

Edit because I can not spell; Hellmutt

[edit on 14-11-2006 by Baphomet79]

Originally posted by Baphomet79
My point precisely.

I am sure I am not the only one on ATS who thinks titles such as:

Freemason Questions...?
Whose Conspiracy is it?
So I went to see Nessie...

are inappropriate titles for threads. A board as large as ATS can not afford to have such ambiguous titles, in my opinion. I can not count how many threads that I could potentially be interested in that I skip over simply for having a ... or an ambiguous question mark at the end of a conspiratorial statement. And I also feel fairly confident that I am not the only one that feels the same way.

Thread titles such as:

Explosion Shuts Down Nuclear Reactor In Sweden
Chinese Sub within range of the 7th Fleet, Surprises the Kitty Hawk

I know it is asking a lot for the Moderators to police the forums to the extent that the titles are as descriptive as that, perhaps the Admin's could lay out some new rules. But moderators and members, please support me that the naming of threads is beginning to get counterproductive. The site has grown so large, and that is a good thing, that I personally do not think ambiguous titles are needed to attract new members, you have your audience already and I know it grows daily.

[edit on 14-11-2006 by Baphomet79]

I agree! I thought of suggesting a new title: Ambiguous Thread Titles: Just a Thought. . .

The I re-read your post and "got it."

People try to be clever, and the end result has nothing to do with the post. I have often clicked on a title, to be dissappointed with the actual thread.

Enforcing titles that do not break the Terms & Conditions would be an enormous task for the staff. Some titles do leave too much to the imagination, but I think it comes with the territory. As an individual, I think the best thing to do, is lead by example.

Creating a Great Title for Your Thread

Umbrax authored this thread awhile back. Great information and strategies to putting a title on your thread. Read the thread and spread the message. If you see someone create a thread with a horrendous title, u2u them with this link. Odds are it was not intentional and they do not know the difference. Providing the help they need is a step in the right direction.

Thread titles pretty much always will and always have been a problem. The only way to truly resolve the problem is going to be to have someone approve each and every post before it is made, and that would pretty much destroy the member base as well as the trust people have in ATS. If people knew that only "approved" posts could go through, then they would automatically assume a bias towards one group or another.

If you think the vague titles are bad, wait till you see the ones that say something like "Absolute Proof of Alien Existance!" and it turns out basically the person had a dream about some aliens, or "This proves the Reptillians Exist!" and it's a photoshopped piccy of some guy with his pupils adjusted to make them look like a cat's.

Misleading, vague, and even flat out false titles are just par for the course. It's largely up to the reader to determine the credibility. The staff have a hard enough time as it is just keeping the TaC enforced. Asking them to police the titles would, at the very least, require a doubling of the staff levels, and open up a whole new can of objective vs. subjective worms to be released about the whole Freedom of Speech thing.

Much easier just to not read vague threads, and to remain skeptical of those that claim absolute proof before you click on them.


EDIT: I also feel compelled to mention to the OP that "Just a Thought" is also an equally vague title that would be deemed inappropriate were your suggestion implemented.



[edit on 11/14/2006 by thelibra]

As chissler said, that really has to be a member driven effort.

When someone posts a new topic on ATS, the assumption is that they want people to read it and comment on it. I mean, otherwise they wouldn't post it, right?

So, it is really up to the original poster to draw in readers. You're absolutely right, generic titles are not going to draw attention and often times that is a shame because it might be a very good thread.

A thread titled "Rumsfeld Resigns" will probably get far more views and appropriate comments than one titled "Dude can you believe it?" even though they might refer to the same event.

It's important to realize that in a community of this size there are so many thousands of threads that can attract one's attention, so if you want people to view yours you have to use that one line to tell them what it's all about!

Originally posted by thelibra
EDIT: I also feel compelled to mention to the OP that "Just a Thought" is also an equally vague title that would be deemed inappropriate were your suggestion implemented.

I too, almost bit on this one. But I feel the author is trying to make a point with the vague title. It would appear so anyhow.

I agree with thelibra. It would be too much of an effort to police what titles are put on threads. We can pick and choose what we deem is appropriate, and if something is troubling to us, ignore it.

If you feel compelled to help, contact the member. Constructive criticism is always a good thing, just be careful how you approach the situation.

Being honest, If a title of the thread is absurd, showing blatant bias, etc., I normally skip the thread. Often I look for neutrality or thought-provoking titles. In my opinion, it is these threads that carry the greatest discussions.

Yes, I purposefully named it Just a Thought..., to make my point. It is hard not to click on it, while simultaneously having absolutely no idea what the topic of discussion is. At the same time you might skip over something that you have expertise with in or are interested in simply because of an ambiguous subject title.

I know it is asking to much of the Mods and Admins, I have just been noticing the trend growing more and more over the past few months. I thought perhaps if enough people saw this and similar posts they would realize they are shooting themselves in the foot with vague or outlandish titles, and perhaps the boards could police themselves.

Doubtful but hey I am an optimist. (Which sounds like an oxymoron now that I think about it.)

[edit on 14-11-2006 by Baphomet79]

It's all part of ATS's "Deny Obesity: Click Those Kilograms Away" program.



p.s. Wise man say, "He who judges books by cover, miss out on much wisdom."

[edit on 14-11-2006 by Regenmacher]

After 8 years on message boards, I give up having this problem ever fixed. New people will always come along and do it all over again.

But it's definitely my worst pet peeve, so ya learn to live with it. Usually it's people who consider themselves creative and not analytical who do this. Sometimes even I do it just to peeve myself off.

I totally agree.

Thread titles like "Now it's worse than we thought" etc. are very distracting, please make every effort to make your title as descriptive as possible of your thread.

[edit on 11/14/2006 by djohnsto77]

Wouldn't it also be of help if you were to, seeing as you click on a particular title to find out what it is all about... to tag that thread more appropriately if the author hasn't provided clear definition in their title?

For example...your own thread on the topic

I come across a lot of untagged thread anyway and some are good thread but with poor titles...tagging them more appropriately helps them to be discovered or re-dicovered if they're not already a hot topic.

I tagged your thread BTW

Oh lord, I thought everyone understood me! I named the title that as a joke! Well a joke serving as an example as well.

[edit on 14-11-2006 by Baphomet79]

The thing is everyone is different. Some people like what you don't like.
Some of the seemingly most immature, amatuer threads can create pages and pages of comments and interest.

I can see how some people are especially busy and may not want to waste their time on a thread unworthy of thier high standards, but some of us average folks need entertainment, too.

This is an open web site to draw and keep a wide variety of personalities.
Sometimes people want to over intellectulize every thing!

No, everyone likes to be able to read a thread without having to think long and hard about it before even having an opinion about the subject (a representative title would solve that.) What does that have to do with high standards, I call it common courtesy.

Entertainment.....none of us would be here if we were not entertained by these subjects! This has nothing to do with over-intellectualizing anything, what does being intellectual have to do with reading a title indicative of the subject?

The "funny" of your title didn't escape me - I just chose to ignore it . Point is I still clicked to find out what it was about. I agree that titles could be a little more...descriptive...but there are so many different people posting and so many different views and opinions and experience levels. Too persnickety to try to change the way everyone posts their titles.

And no not everyone cares to be honest about being able to decipher a post by the title...what you want is a screening mode...so you only have to read what you want.

It's called the back button, and as irritating as it may be to click a thread and find that the title was not accurate or whatever...I do it all the time and so does everyone else at some point or another.

Tagging a thread is a better idea than trying to "edumacate" all the "non-academic" posters on the appropriate ways to title a thread. The tags appear at the top of the thread.

I don't see titles as being a huge issue really. I have a well used back button

As mentioned above, it is an issue that will never die. We can make every effort to enforce it, but with something like 100+ members signing up every week, how can we patrol it?

We have the community understand what we want, and a month later, we have a few hundred new members polluting the board with the same problem.

Most members are not doing it to draw attention, they just do not know better. Some new members will show blatant bias in an attempt to troll, which we need to ignore. If they are breaking the T&C, report them via the Complain function. But its tough to paint all with the same brush, because others are willing to learn.

If a new member signs up and posts a thread with a topic that is not all that great, then we turn and scrutinize him for it, what are they going to think the next time they attempt to create a thread? There are plenty of factors to examine before we can comment on any members. Some are problematic, others are looking to learn. Decipher who is which and take the appropriate action.

Creating a Great Title for Your Thread

This thread is one that does not get spread around enough. Take a moment to subscribe to the thread, and point newer members in the right direction.