Discussion Thread Titles and Post Titles - Importance of Titling and Title Changes

[Marc]

Thread titles are very important. They are important to make browsing the discussion threads a more useful experience by visitors. They also make indexing in search engines yield a better result.

Titles such as "Help" do not catch peoples attention so threads titled like this will be read less. When a title is clear and precise people will be more likely to read the thread and to help out with an answer.

NOTE 1: If you Start a New discussion thread and notice the title has been changed, it was probably one of the Moderators or me (most probably me) who changed it. We sometimes retitle discussion threads to make the forum easier to find information in, as well as to try to title the thread so it better reflects the thread content.

NOTE 2: Sometimes I 'goof up' and don't get the essence of the thread in the title. For this I aologise in advance. I try to 'get it right', but sometimes I 'miss'. In cases such as this, please do not hesitate to PM me to get the discussion thread title changed.

[harry]

Titles such as "Help" do not catch peoples attention so threads titled like this will be read less

Another important feature are the 'icons'. With our new 'Help' icon, you don't need to have the world help in your sentence any more - saving some more space for the thread title.

If you are seeking help, just key in a thread title that best reflect your intention and contents and then click the 'Help' icon. Similarly, the 'Question Mark' icon or 'TIA' (thanks in advance) icon may be used to convey the appropriate messages without the need to waste the limited space for thread titles.

[Wes Bucey]

Another point to note:
Often, folks find themselves "challenged" by the spelling of a specific word in the thread title. As brilliant and wonderful as moderators and administrators are, we sometimes overlook such instances. If you, as a reader with sharper eyes, note such a slip in spelling, PLEASE, PLEASE refrain from adding a post pointing out the spelling slip, which may tend to humiliate or embarrass the thread starter. To help EVERYONE involved, just click on the "Report this Post" icon (little triangle in upper right corner of every post) to alert moderators. One of those currently on duty will repair the spelling glitch.

[BradM]

Marc, do I notice some new functionality that I did not see before?

Thread or Post Title - Change if appropriate
within a thread to help continuity and branches

Please --> Choose an appropriate Icon for your Thread or your Post

So I assume since you put it there, you would like to see some more "jazz" of titles within the threads.

[Ajit Basrur]

Originally Posted by BradM

Marc, do I notice some new functionality that I did not see before?So I assume since you put it there, you would like to see some more "jazz" of titles within the threads.

Yeah - alerts like a reminder. Good feature

[Marc]

Originally Posted by BradM

Marc, do I notice some new functionality that I did not see before?So I assume since you put it there, you would like to see some more "jazz" of titles within the threads.

My intent is to make threads and post titles more significant than they currently are. I 'personalized' the 'style' / 'phrases' to emphasize that people should consider the thread or post title. I may 'dull this down' a bit if people complain.

I want to make things easy to find, and for people to think about, and more precisely think about thread titles, as well as post titles within threads. As we proceed through threads, often the direction changes. People should consider that aspect of posts within threads. Now - Will I do anything about people ignoring that aspect? Definitely not. But - For those I can convince of the importance of Titles of Posts within threads (in individual posts), I will evangelize...

Titles are important, in my opinion. A few years back I spent about a month retitling threads (and in some cases every post in a thread) because I saw a major failure mode in most forums I visited. I search by Thread Title first to narrow the search. Many times when I search for a word or two and I search ALL thread contents I get too many results. So, I typically go through and try to retitle threads so search results are more 'meaningful'.

I can tone down the colour if that is a problem.

[Ajit Basrur]

Originally Posted by Marc

....... I can tone down the colour if that is a problem.

I think its ok because the color prompts the poster to have a look and thus gets noticed.

[harry]

Originally Posted by BradM

Marc, do I notice some new functionality that I did not see before?So I assume since you put it there, you would like to see some more "jazz" of titles within the threads.

Good addition and improvement. Hopefully, users will be guided to create better and more relevant titles.