Why

[#1]

@Peter J      Note that Jelv also suggested:

Quote from: jelv

I would suggest that separate from the rules there should be a guidance posting which could include something about topic names. It would then be open to anyone to PM people a link to that post/section as and when needed.

That would provide a means of rectifying the situation if the original poster did not see (or ignored) the advice on the text entry page.
Tony

[#2]

Rules for topic titles? Overkill in my opinion, I think Santiago made a lot of good points in his 'rant'.
Peace be with you Santiago.

[#3]

Thank you God, I am at peace

[#4]

The trouble is Santiago got it wrong in one very significant aspect.

Quote from: Santiago

I know, we should arrange a course in Topic titles for new users, then when they post clever dicks won't waste 5 seconds looking at their post before realising they are not interested

He is assuming that where a topic has a poor title the "clever dicks" will open the topic and waste 5 seconds reading to find out what it is about before moving on.
Wrong!
I almost exclusively read this forums from the REPLIES TO YOUR POSTS and UNREAD POSTS at the top. I first go through the new posts made to topics I've contributed to, then I look at the unread posts list. I will open the topics I think will be interesting or to which I think I could contribute. But then there is this magic button Mark ALL messages as read. So it is quite probable that I will never open topics with poor titles at all.
That is why it is the interests of people starting topics themselves to make sure the title at least gives some clue as to what it is about.
Edit: I do sometimes vary the approach by opening the forums I'm not interested in and clicking Mark Read (e.g. Gamers Forum, Home Phone Help) first. That shortens the list of unread posts.

[#5]

Surely the answer is poster education and reader flexibility rather than more rules?
Actually I think changing folks post topics is quite rude and appears arrogant unless they have actually broken a serious forum rule, what next; correcting grammer, punctuation and spelling because it makes the title and post easier to read?
I suspect a poster would find having changes made to their posts because they arent up to 'standard' quite intimidating. It all feels a bit big brother.
Having said that, peace be with you all my brothers (big and small).

[#6]

Totally agree with you. That's why it should be published guidance that explains why - not a rule. We could then suggest to people that they edit the title of their topic it increase it's visibility (with a link to the guidance). If they don't then it's their own loss!

[#7]

Cool, it definately needs to be a case of 'poster beware'.
Peace be with you Jelv.

[#8]

Guidance rather than Moderation?
I'm happy with that, but Tony, try and be nice   You do sometimes seem to come across rather strongly when complaining about thread titles.

[#9]

I have been using the forums for a while, a few posters have asked how they change a title, I can only remember actually seeing any body else changing the title once, and that was for very obvious reasons

[#10]

A prime example: http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,63397.0/topicseen.html
Recommendation for what? - I've marked that one as read without opening it.

[#11]

Yes that is bad but what were you referring to?

[#12]

A duff topic where the OP needs advising on topic titles.

[#13]

This rather childish attitude of "We don't need rules or guidelines! I can post what I want! Big Brother, etc..." is missing the point of what this forum is for.
You are posting here to interact with other people. On many occasions you are asking those people for their opinions or help. The least you can do is make the effort to present yourself in a respectable, clear way, as you would in person. Why people feel internet forums somehow release them from the normal social acceptabilities is always a mystery to me.
I posted what I thought was a compromise solution (guidance text) a few posts ago. I should add though, that if the forum decided to go the whole hog and moderate inappropriate titles, I wouldn't have a problem with that either.

[#14]

Apart from God (and I don't believe that he exists ;)), everyone seems to be happy with the compromize solution - guidance at source plus guidelines that the original poster can be referred to.
Any idea when this might be put into practice, or has it still got to be discussed by the moderators? I notice that there has been a trend for long and descriptive post titles recently which is most welcome.

Quote from: Jameseh

I'm happy with that, but Tony, try and be nice   You do sometimes seem to come across rather strongly when complaining about thread titles.

Sorry, it comes from being a teacher for 22 years, I'm afraid.
Tony

[#15]

I think the only thing I have said I am not happy with is topics being changed by moderators when they don’t break forum rules. So I am actually ok with guidance at source etc.
If I see a topic called ‘recommendation please’ I would open it and see if I can help, if not I might well just follow the thread to see if I can learn something. Personally I don’t mind having some diversity of posting styles in fact I quite like it, not all folks are made the same way.
I don’t particularly see it as childish that some folks have concerns about the amount of moderation on the forum; in general I think it is currently ok. I used to use the old forums a lot but stopped because (in my opinion) it was over moderated and I got totally fed up with all the bad feeling it caused.
Thankfully the new forums seems to have a much nicer and more tolerant culture and are interesting and fun to participate in. I just want them to stay that way and not end up like the rather hostile older incarnation.
Peace be with you.