'meaningless question titles' Thread RSS Feed

meaningless question titles

Wed, 22 May 2002 04:38:36 -0700

I would like to see something in the "posting rules" about
using a meaningful subject line for a question's title.

This would help the questioner, commenters, and others who
are just browsing the messages.

I find it really annoying to see questions with titles like:

"what's wrong here?"
"programming question"
"another question"

- or my personal favorite:
"HELP ME !!!"

Re: meaningless question titles

Wed, 22 May 2002 05:21:56 -0700

: I would like to see something in the "posting rules" about
: using a meaningful subject line for a question's title.
:
: This would help the questioner, commenters, and others who
: are just browsing the messages.
:
: I find it really annoying to see questions with titles like:
:
: "what's wrong here?"
: "programming question"
: "another question"
:
: - or my personal favorite:
: "HELP ME !!!"
:

My favorite is (in the VB board):

I need help with VB!

Umm.. DUH?!?

I bet the rule would be ignored like many others though...

Re: meaningless question titles

Wed, 22 May 2002 09:59:49 -0700

Wouldn't this be more for the moderator of the board than for The Webmaster? the moderators have the ability to configure the rules and information regarding the board they are responsable for.

: I would like to see something in the "posting rules" about
: using a meaningful subject line for a question's title.
:
: This would help the questioner, commenters, and others who
: are just browsing the messages.
:
: I find it really annoying to see questions with titles like:
:
: "what's wrong here?"
: "programming question"
: "another question"
:
: - or my personal favorite:
: "HELP ME !!!"
:

Ben Martin
programmer

Re: meaningless question titles

Wed, 22 May 2002 10:23:57 -0700

: Wouldn't this be more for the moderator of the board than for The Webmaster?

I think the scope is pretty much global, unless you
can you think of a board where a question titled
"i need help" would be appropriate.

Re: meaningless question titles

Thu, 23 May 2002 13:07:19 -0700

Hi

I can add a general rule to all boards and if you have a suggestion on how such's a rule should be written ,then write one here and I will add it. I need you to agree on what to write.

There's not much else we can do I think.

/WEBMASTER

Re: meaningless question titles

Fri, 24 May 2002 03:15:53 -0700

: if you have a suggestion on how such's a rule should be written ,then write one here

Hello, Tore !!!

Shortly after my original posting, I discovered that the Linux board
has just such a rule. This is a loose translation, to make it more "generic"

(----- SNIP -----)

Be specific when stating the subject of your question. Subjects such as 'HELP!' and 'newbie question' are not a good description. A meaningful subject title will probably get attention a lot sooner.

(----- /SNIP -----)

Thanks,
- Jeff

Re: meaningless question titles

Fri, 24 May 2002 03:31:36 -0700

That sounds good!

Any opinions from the other users in this thread?

/WEBMASTER

:
: (----- SNIP -----)
:
: Be specific when stating the subject of your question. Subjects such as 'HELP!' and 'newbie question' are not a good description. A meaningful subject title will probably get attention a lot sooner.
:
: (----- /SNIP -----)
:
:

Re: meaningless question titles

Mon, 27 May 2002 10:37:56 -0700

: That sounds good!
:
: Any opinions from the other users in this thread?

I still believe this should be up to the moderator of the board. Then we can put in an appropriate example like;
-------
Please avoid using subjects such as 'HELP!' and 'newbie question'. A descriptive subject like 'When starting Xwindows I get error "xyz"' will probably get attention a lot sooner.
-------

A general rule would not be able to have examples that would related to every board. Also, on some of the private boards this rule might not apply. A group working on a project together or just having a conversation might not have a problem with a "whazzzup?' thread.
Ben Martin
programmer

Re: meaningless question titles

Mon, 27 May 2002 12:53:46 -0700

I don't want to interfere with the private or user created boards, but for the official boards I will add this rule:

Please avoid using subjects such as 'HELP!' and 'newbie question'. A descriptive subject like 'When starting Xwindows I get error "xyz"' will probably get attention a lot sooner.

Do you agree that its a good step on the right way? Probably the moderators of the user created boards might see the new rule and add it to their own rules list.

How about that?

/WEBMASTER

Re: meaningless question titles

Thu, 30 May 2002 13:22:51 -0700

"Please avoid using subjects such as 'HELP!' and 'newbie question'. A descriptive subject like 'When starting Xwindows I get error "xyz"' will probably get attention a lot sooner. "

That should ease the problem. Users are not going to find their messages deleted because they used a bad title, but they will find that they don't get replies quickly unless they make use of specific titles. A rule is something that the moderator enforces, but in this case I think that even the moderator will not be interested in putting new titles onto posts that have bad ones. If a user opts to use a bad title, that's not anyone else's problem. A generic rule like the one above would be enough to inform users of this bad practice.

If you have enough memory, you won't have enough disk space.

Re: meaningless question titles

Fri, 31 May 2002 03:49:47 -0700

I will insert this text then:

Please avoid using subjects such as 'HELP!' and 'newbie question'. A descriptive subject like 'When starting Xwindows I get error "xyz"' will probably get attention a lot sooner

into all the official boards rules section.

/WEBMASTER

Re: meaningless question titles

Sat, 01 Jun 2002 02:54:52 -0700

: into all the official boards rules section.

Thanks !
- Jeff