AskMe Titles

February 21, 2004 4:00 PM

I really really hate to ask... but can we get Post/Question Titles for Ask MetaFilter?
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood to Feature Requests at 4:00 PM (11 comments total)

I read AskMetaFilter via it's RSS feed, just like I do for MetaFitler...

And when titles were added for MetaFilter it made a world of difference.

Just asking....
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood at 4:01 PM on February 21, 2004

Here's one vote against it. It's annoying. My vehemence level on this issue is only about 30% though.
posted by Hildago at 4:33 PM on February 21, 2004

What do you mean it's annoying? It changes the title bar into something descriptive, helps those reading RSS, and if you can't think of a 15 words or less description of your question, perhaps it's time to rethink the post carefully.
posted by fvw at 4:51 PM on February 21, 2004

If it's going to happen, then perhaps it should be standard to just use a summary version of the question in question. Seems most useful for feedreaders.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 6:50 PM on February 21, 2004

I don't know about having to describe a question in 15 words or less. I probably couldn't do that most of the time.

But, at least on metafilter proper, I don't like that you're supposed to come up with "witty" title tags. Seems like unnecessary work to me. Plus, since I don't use RSS, the utility is lost on me.
posted by Hildago at 6:58 PM on February 21, 2004

Ah, kind of with you on that one Hildago. I'd much rather see a short description than a witticism in the title field. However, last time I raised that point our glorious leader completely and utterly disagreed. So there's not much to be done about that, until the revolution comes.
posted by fvw at 7:29 PM on February 21, 2004

as long as people are directly instructed to put the topic in the title, it'd be good. (for ex. "Itunes problem," or "cleaning silver")
posted by amberglow at 7:29 PM on February 21, 2004

or "disgusting stinky throat balls thing" ; >
posted by amberglow at 8:13 PM on February 21, 2004

yeah, that was really, really bad, amberglow

I'm drinking -- drinking! -- a quart of Listerine daily since I read that thread

*starts flossing, exits thread*
posted by matteo at 11:42 AM on February 22, 2004

But, at least on metafilter proper, I don't like that you're supposed to come up with "witty" title tags. Seems like unnecessary work to me. Plus, since I don't use RSS, the utility is lost on me.

Just make obscure references nobody will understand and laugh quietly (or loudly, because really nobody will know) to yourself when you think about people reading them over and over and failing to understand the significance of the title. Perhaps you could even use random dates. For example, It's June 23rd, 1985 all over again, or The Passion of Brent Gilchrist.
posted by The God Complex at 12:31 AM on February 24, 2004

Steve, it's "its", not "it's".
posted by interrobang at 9:29 PM on February 24, 2004