Titles 101. 12-21-2013, 04:33 AM
#1
Good thread titles summarize what the thread is about.
Some posters prefer mysterious titles that force other posters to open the thread in order to know what it's about. If the resulting discussion turns out to be very good, then a mysterious title will make it hard for someone who wants to revisit that thread in a few weeks, months or years to find it! Many members and non-members make use of the information and discussions in old threads.
You do them no favors when you use a title that conceals what's in your thread.
Here's a hypothetical example:
Thread is titled "I can't believe they would do this!"
What's it about? Your guess is as good as mine.
If it's important enough to start a thread, it's important enough to give it a good title!
Turns out the hypothetical thread above was about the Randomtown school board closing C.D. Forum Elementary, which is a school in the poster's neighborhood. Here are some better ideas for thread titles.
"Forum Elementary will be closing!"
"Randomtown board votes to close school"
"I can't believe they're closing Forum Elementary!"
One thing all of these possible titles have in common is that they have a noun and a verb. Take a look at some titles that don't have a noun and a verb:
"Sad about C.D. Forum Elementary"
"Closing"
"No C.D. Forum Elementary?"
"Forum Elementary"
They don't really tell the story, do they? If you were looking for info about the closing of the school, would you believe that a thread with any of those titles was the Randomtown forum's best source of information?
The best thread titles have a noun and a verb. The very best titles are very specific! It's OK to have fun with your titles and perfectly fine to express emotion in them, but also try to be considerate of newcomers and people using search by including both a noun and a verb.
Some posters prefer mysterious titles that force other posters to open the thread in order to know what it's about. If the resulting discussion turns out to be very good, then a mysterious title will make it hard for someone who wants to revisit that thread in a few weeks, months or years to find it! Many members and non-members make use of the information and discussions in old threads.
You do them no favors when you use a title that conceals what's in your thread.
Here's a hypothetical example:
Thread is titled "I can't believe they would do this!"
What's it about? Your guess is as good as mine.
If it's important enough to start a thread, it's important enough to give it a good title!
Turns out the hypothetical thread above was about the Randomtown school board closing C.D. Forum Elementary, which is a school in the poster's neighborhood. Here are some better ideas for thread titles.
"Forum Elementary will be closing!"
"Randomtown board votes to close school"
"I can't believe they're closing Forum Elementary!"
One thing all of these possible titles have in common is that they have a noun and a verb. Take a look at some titles that don't have a noun and a verb:
"Sad about C.D. Forum Elementary"
"Closing"
"No C.D. Forum Elementary?"
"Forum Elementary"
They don't really tell the story, do they? If you were looking for info about the closing of the school, would you believe that a thread with any of those titles was the Randomtown forum's best source of information?
The best thread titles have a noun and a verb. The very best titles are very specific! It's OK to have fun with your titles and perfectly fine to express emotion in them, but also try to be considerate of newcomers and people using search by including both a noun and a verb.
![[Image: lO8j80T.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/lO8j80T.gif)
there's never not not nuttin
![[+]](https://sinister.ly/images/modern/collapse_collapsed.png)
![[Image: Shift+Signature.png]](http://o.aolcdn.com/hss/storage/fss/3e3896eb718efaa9a15cdc72a7467d80/Shift+Signature.png)
