Mismatched Thread Titles

[AlliFlowers]

Have you ever looked at a thread title and thought it meant one thing, and then realized what forum it was in and know that it couldn't possibly mean what you thought it did? I have that on a daily basis here.

This morning I saw
No mention of crop factors

I thought, oh! We're talking about growing vegetables. Then I noticed it was in the Digital Photography forum.

You?

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Have you ever looked at a thread title and thought it meant one thing, and then realized what forum it was in and know that it couldn't possibly mean what you thought it did? I have that on a daily basis here.

This morning I saw
No mention of crop factors

I thought, oh! We're talking about growing vegetables. Then I noticed it was in the Digital Photography forum.

You?

Oh, good grief, yes. Most certainly, yes, I have.

And not just in the tech side of the forum, but - worse - in PRSI.

 

[AlliFlowers]

Oh, good grief, yes. Most certainly, yes, I have.

And not just in the tech side of the forum, but - worse - in PRSI.

I think I do it more often in PRSI. LOL! It doesn't help that I do New Posts, rather than view by forum.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I think I do it more often in PRSI. LOL! It doesn't help that I do New Posts, rather than view by forum.

Well, there have been threads that I alighted upon, thinking that they were about one thing, only to find that they were about another matter entirely. And, sometimes, I have found myself repeating the exact same mistake with the exact same thread title, mainly because I wasn't concentrating sufficiently to remember that I had already blundered into the thread with the same unfortunate result.

No, I don't do "New Posts" - I'd be deluged, and I had to turn off email notifications as well, they were driving me nuts. Indeed, I have even contemplated switching off the 'notifications' feature, but - for now - have decided to leave well alone.

 

[Huntn]

Sometimes it's an accident, a misinterpretation on your part, and sometimes on purpose at the hand of the author.
[doublepost=1493130426][/doublepost]

I think I do it more often in PRSI. LOL! It doesn't help that I do New Posts, rather than view by forum.

Primarily I look at replies first and by forum second.

 

[AlliFlowers]

Of course, then there are the times that my brain and my eyes see totally different words.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Sometimes it's an accident, a misinterpretation on your part, and sometimes on purpose at the hand of the author.
[doublepost=1493130426][/doublepost]
Primarily I look at replies first and by forum second.

That's generally my method to.

But yes I find a lot of the thread titles have little to do with what I thought they would!

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Well, while mismatched thread titles are one thing, another thing that occasionally irks me are the exceptionally general ones.

You know, the ones that start with a title "Help Me Please", or, for the really terse, a simple "Help!" followed by the inevitable exclamation mark. Personally, I'd like to see a little more detail in such a thread title which will explain the problem and hence the nature of the assistance sought and required.

 

[ActionableMango]

You know, the ones that start with a title "Help Me Please", or, for the really terse, a simple "Help!" followed by the inevitable exclamation mark.

That is one of my pet peeves.

Also when the person says "there was an error message" and doesn't share what the error message said.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

That is one of my pet peeves.

Also when the person says "there was an error message" and doesn't share what the error message said.

Well, sometimes they may not even understand what the error message actually means........

 

[0388631]

Not really. My issue is I read fast and will sometimes jumble up a word or two, resulting in something completely different. I'll realize this only after I've read the main post or article and left wondering what I've just read. I also compose my posts quickly and don't bother proofreading, and will then later find words I never meant to use.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Not really. My issue is I read fast and will sometimes jumble up a word or two, resulting in something completely different. I'll realize this only after I've read the main post or article and left wondering what I've just read. I also compose my posts quickly and don't bother proofreading, and will then later find words I never meant to use.

That has happened to me, too.

Sometimes, the spellcheck alters what you thought you wrote (or had planned to write) into what it thinks you should have written.

 

[AlliFlowers]

Well, while mismatched thread titles are one thing, another thing that occasionally irks me are the exceptionally general ones.

You know, the ones that start with a title "Help Me Please", or, for the really terse, a simple "Help!" followed by the inevitable exclamation mark. Personally, I'd like to see a little more detail in such a thread title which will explain the problem and hence the nature of the assistance sought and required.

This is why when I was a mod at iMore, one of the things we did was change thread titles when they were that generic.

I also despise the ones which start with "what if...."

 

[Scepticalscribe]

This is why when I was a mod at iMore, one of the things we did was change thread titles when they were that generic.

I also despise the ones which start with "what if...."

Oh, yes, "what if....." Yes, agreed.

Then, other dislikes include the endless: "What Would Steve Say/Do/Think?" (delete unused verbs as needed) threads.

And, of course, then, there are the perfectly ludicrous, yet sometimes bizarrely hilarious threads with titles such as...."I knocked a glass of - or spilt a glass of - water/wine/coffee/Coca Cola/beer/juice over my MBA/MB/MBP" - (again, delete as appropriate or inappropriate), followed by a detailed description of what happened - invariably starting with a sentence that reads "So, I was...." then proceeding to describe how One Did Exactly What One Is Not Supposed To Do (such as turning the sopping computer back on, thereby frying its internal circuits) and concluding by asking plaintively "while it doesn't seem to work, is it okay?"

 

[AlliFlowers]

And you know my other favorite. "Show us your...."

 

[Scepticalscribe]

And you know my other favorite. "Show us your...."

Oh, God, yes.

Those threads irk me, too.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

And you know my other favorite. "Show us your...."

Tonight I saw a thread which invited participants to post their "Apple Product Boxes." Sigh.

 

[Septembersrain]

This is why when I was a mod at iMore, one of the things we did was change thread titles when they were that generic.

I also despise the ones which start with "what if...."

I was an ambassador. That whole "Ask a question" area was a nightmare. Then eventually multiple posts and threads kept disappearing. A whole mess of trouble went down and a group of us got banned.

This place is way less strict on what can be said and what needs to be deleted.

 

[AlliFlowers]

Tonight I saw a thread which invited participants to post their "Apple Product Boxes." Sigh.

Good grief!

I was an ambassador. That whole "Ask a question" area was a nightmare. Then eventually multiple posts and threads kept disappearing. A whole mess of trouble went down and a group of us got banned.

This place is way less strict on what can be said and what needs to be deleted.

The ambassador program was a joke. They created it after deciding they didn't want Jan as a mod, but felt they couldn't just get rid of him. When the crackberry crew took over management and took the forums away from René and Jeremy it all went downhill. I was the second to leave, but the first to go public. And I'd been there longer than any of them except Marcus. /rant

 

[MacDawg]

This is why when I was a mod at iMore, one of the things we did was change thread titles when they were that generic.

I also despise the ones which start with "what if...."

Mods here will change thread titles as well, when warranted
So if you see one that is too generic, misleading of otherwise would benefit from a change, report it and let them have a look

 

[Roller]

I've occasionally stumbled upon threads that were purposefully or unintentionally titled misleadingly, only to find that they were more interesting to me than what their titles had suggested.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I've occasionally stumbled upon threads that were purposefully or unintentionally titled misleadingly, only to find that they were more interesting to me than what their titles had suggested.

Yes, that can occasionally happen, too, agreed.

 

[AngerDanger]

Have you ever looked at a thread title and thought it meant one thing, and then realized what forum it was in and know that it couldn't possibly mean what you thought it did? I have that on a daily basis here.

This morning I saw
No mention of crop factors

I thought, oh! We're talking about growing vegetables. Then I noticed it was in the Digital Photography forum.

You?

…Anyone else feel that breeze? is a title I frequently read and assume is about weather.

Then I remember it's in the distributed computing forum and at first thought it was about many computers performing simpler calculations than before, creating a proverbial breeze.

Nope, apparently it's about some MR user's array of computers passing another's in performance.

 

[AlliFlowers]

…Anyone else feel that breeze? is a title I frequently read and assume is about weather.

I get trapped by that one, too!

 

[AngerDanger]

Not really. My issue is I read fast and will sometimes jumble up a word or two, resulting in something completely different. I'll realize this only after I've read the main post or article and left wondering what I've just read. I also compose my posts quickly and don't bother proofreading, and will then later find words I never meant to use.

As sort of an offshoot of this issue, I find that some thread titles are really exciting when you're only partway through reading them:

Tim Cook Drops in Unexpectedly at Apple Store in Marseille, France



Apple Launches $49 Mac Pro Security Lock Adapter in Online Store



And then there are thread titles that make no sense to me before reading the OP:

Lenovo's 'iGuy' MacRumors Fan Compares MacBook to Yoga 900S [later changed to something more sensical)



Tim Cook Highlights 'Magical' iPad Doo-Wop Duet Between Billy Joel and Jimmy Fallon