Who keeps changing thread titles?

[Cave Diver]

Why don't we just post and then the "Advisors" aka (Scuba Police) can add whatever title they choose! An original post is just that, original. If I want someone to edit it to make it BETTER, I will consult with my first grade teacher and my mommy!

Concerns such as this are taken into consideration and we understand that some people will not like having the titles edited. However, the overwhelming majority of OP's are appreciative when titles are modified and help get more responses or better answers. I apologize to those of you who don't appreciate our efforts, but our focus is on the greater good. Unfortunately that means that from time to time, we will have dissenting views on what that is.

 

[JamesK]

Because mods fix about 20-50 misspellings a day. If moderators PM'ed everyone, every time they spelled something wrong (in a thread title), nothing would get done.

Not to mention, some people might be upset that we fixed their spelling, which someone could interpret as "I must be a dumbass for not being able to spell well," and then we'd have more upset people than now.

This practice has been going on for YEARS, and apparently it's hardly noticed

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Yes... but at the same time (just for clarity for everyone involved here - not just answering Captain Frank) - poorly titled threads don't do well for Google's concern, and considering that 75% of our daily traffic is from Google Searches, we owe it to the rest of the world to have relevant thread titles (when applicable and appropriate)

I understand spelling, I am wondering about why do you change the name of a title without consulting the OP?

 

[Cave Diver]

Serious (legit) question: Why??

Because a lot of people find us through Google searches and stuff. If they're trying to get information about a specific brand, a location, or something else and it's misspelled in a thread title, that thread may have the best information available, but they're not going to find it. Same thing when people tell users to "Do a search" here. If the title is not correct, it wont be searchable.

Also, some people are not native English speakers, and use incorrect words or spelling and it leads to confusion and less response to their threads. Not to mention the derailments when every wordsmith on the net weighs into the thread with their criticisms about it. If we notice obvious issues, then we normally just fix it. The vast majority of this occurs seamlessly and few people ever even notice it happens.

 

[HowardE]

I understand spelling, I am wondering about why do you change the name of a title without consulting the OP?

For example. Someone titled a thread, "HELP"

I renamed it, "Need Help Identifying a SCUBAPRO BCD" and lo and behold they got answers they were looking for.

There is no need to notify people, as they are still subscribed to the thread, and any old link to that thread will still follow through to the updated title. That's why.

This practice is usually ONLY done for extremely poorly chosen words, or titles that are completely irrelevant. Usually it HELPS the OP, and again. With how much its done, this is really a non-issue.

 

[Wookie]

Sorry. Howard or Marcia or John, please delete this thread at your leisure.

 

[HowardE]

Sorry. Howard or Marcia or John, please delete this thread at your leisure.

We generally don't just delete threads, even if SB has to defend it's practices. We're not hiding anything, and now if people wonder why their title got changed, we at least have a public explanation.

 

[JamesK]

I now I have my explanation. Thanks!

 

[SC_Hoaty]

We generally don't just delete threads, even if SB has to defend it's practices. We're not hiding anything, and now if people wonder why their title got changed, we at least have a public explanation.

Thanks for leaving this here. I missed all the discussion, but learned something useful about how things work.

 

[Lobstah Slayah]

I wasn't aware that you guys edited titles for spelling and clarity. I guess it must be nearly seamless. Good job!