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You "Need Help" With Your Thread Titles

by fluffythewondercat
14 replies
Anyone else tired of seeing this:



When you're posting a thread to this or any other forum, take a moment to compose a thread title that tells your prospective reader what to expect. You want lots of people to chime in on your thread, right? Tell 'em what it's about.

fLufF
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#need help #thread #titles
  • Profile picture of the author R Hagel
    YES! Thank you.

    My favorite is when someone posts a vague "Please Help!" thread, and then they bump it 20 minutes later with, "What, no one wants to help?" :rolleyes:

    Becky
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  • Profile picture of the author Joseph Robinson
    Banned
    Wait, so you mean threads aren't to be handled like Spam emails? We aren't supposed to throw in a vague title that forces people to click through to read?

    Ludicrous.
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  • Profile picture of the author Istvan Horvath
    this certainly sucks
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  • Profile picture of the author Randall Magwood
    This is why i scroll over thread titles before i click on them.
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  • Profile picture of the author Stoney
    Do you think vague titles make people curious enough to click on the post? Maybe that's why they're vague?
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    • Profile picture of the author Joseph Robinson
      Banned
      Originally Posted by Stoney View Post

      Do you think vague titles make people curious enough to click on the post? Maybe that's why they're vague?
      A valid point. Here is the problem though: a pretty sizable portion of forum users wont even do that. They just roll their eyes and move on. A lot of the ones who do click through might not have the answer you are looking for, so there is some more wasted time right there. The chances of the person you need to find your thread actually finding it are greatly diminished when said person can't even find it in the first place.

      There really is no benefit to a vague thread title.
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    • Profile picture of the author fluffythewondercat
      Originally Posted by Stoney View Post

      Do you think vague titles make people curious enough to click on the post? Maybe that's why they're vague?
      No, I think people are just lazy.

      Look: This forum gets a huge amount of traffic. Many people are only interested in certain topics. They are *not* going to be intrigued by a mystery meat title. They're scanning the list of titles to find something they like.

      But you can test this for yourself if you doubt me. Look at the number of views/responses a very specific title gets. Contrast that with the number of views/responses a title like "I'm so bummed" or "Please help me" gets.

      In a very real sense, just posting to the WF is Marketing School 101.

      fLufF
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    • Profile picture of the author dfs_dean
      Originally Posted by Stoney View Post

      Do you think vague titles make people curious enough to click on the post? Maybe that's why they're vague?
      Stoney - are you saying that posters need to resort to guessing game titles or teaser titles because the substance or real intent of the post wouldn't be sufficient to get people to click on the post?

      WF is jam packed with folks who go out of their way to help others. But most don't have time to seek out folks to help.

      Bottom line: if you would like help or need a question answered, then let everyone know what the issue is in the title. If you have interesting information to share, let us know what it is in the title. Otherwise, your post will go unnoticed by many and rapidly slide off the first page never to be seen again.

      Peace
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  • Profile picture of the author E. Brian Rose
    Originally Posted by fluffythewondercat View Post

    Anyone else tired of seeing this:



    When you're posting a thread to this or any other forum, take a moment to compose a thread title that tells your prospective reader what to expect. You want lots of people to chime in on your thread, right? Tell 'em what it's about.

    fLufF
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    Those would be great subjects for a singles forum, especially the sucks one.
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  • Profile picture of the author Chrisbroholm
    Don't you go to every thread anyway fFluFf?
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  • Profile picture of the author PowerEdge
    Funny, because I did that....and only one person responded.

    Ha!
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  • Profile picture of the author Eleanor
    Couldn't agree more with this. It's frustrating when you see the first page of the forum and it's full of "Please help!" or "Please Help Me!" threads. Most people who are willing to provide help just won't because they have no idea what the thread is about.

    Informative thread titles are much more likely to get seen and therefore your questions will much more likely get answered.
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  • Profile picture of the author Eric Seiler
    I wonder if it makes sense to just create a 'members helping members' section or if that is just implied in all forums, so it won't be used.

    The pleas for free help can be distracting from real IM conversations.
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