I’ve noticed there are a few threads whose titles have been altered to make more clear what the OP is about. I’m a little confused, though, why this is not uniform throughout the board.
For instance: Am I Over Reacting? has no clue in the title as to what the OP may or may not be over-reacting TO. Likewise, I’m So Excited I Might Explode!, You’re Number 2 and I’m A Winner - whereas, Dammit, What’s Next? has been altered to add (water heater).
I don’t actually have a problem with non-descriptive titles, myself - a quick mouseover usually indicates whether I want to read something. I’m just curious why some catchy titles are so altered while others are not.
In GQ, if a thread title does not address the subject of the OP, I usually edit the title for clarity. Exceptions include when the thread title is clear enough to get the attention of those most likely to know the answer, or if the title is funny or unique enough to hold attention such that the OP will receive an answer anyway.
While I can’t speak for other forums, I would personally allow a title like “I’m So Excited I Might Explode!” in MPSIMS without seeing the need to change it, because it contains enough information and builds enough anticipation for the interested reader to want to open the thread. In fact, from the examples you’ve cited, I’d leave the first three as is and I’d edit the last one, because it doesn’t share, in my view, the properties I’ve enlisted above.
It must also be noted that vBulletin and all browsers now support mouse over pop-ups of the text of the OP, so it is easier now to discern the subject of the OP than it used to be.
In Great Debates, I follow rules similar to the ones outlined by xash for GQ. I f the title provides no clue to the thread (and the opening line is sufficiently long and off-track that the content of the thread cannot be determined by mouseover), I’ll try to add clarification. Simple, innocuous typos I will probably leave alone, although typos that are misleading (or are just incomprehensible) are liable to get changed.
In The Pit, we get a fair amount of “I’m so angry!!!” or “WTF?!” or “OMG!!!” type random exclamations as thread titles. Strong emotions belong in the Pit, and it’s what users expect, so narrowing it down a little helps other users know what you’re angry/outraged/upset about. For example, on a personal level, I like reading peoples’ rants about work, but I’m bored reading rants about sports and ever so weary of threads decrying child murders.
It’s not a Rule, it’s a Guideline, so it’s not enforced as uniformly or consistently as some other areas. It’s basically up to the forum moderators and individual circumstances, and different forums have different standards. I tend to use the standard of, “Would this attract the readers/posters that the topic calls for?”
In Cafe Society, I’ll edit a title for clarity (for the same reasons supplied by xash and tomndebb), but it’s largely not a problem in that forum, and I rarely do it unless requested by the original poster.
I’m a lot more lenient in MPSIMS, however, because I think that forum lends itself to having more fun with the titles. There are a lot of double entendres, a lot of non-descriptive wordings that build, as xash pointed out, anticipation and interest. I’ll edit a title for clarity if it lacks any of the above.
Of course, another issue is whether the mods happen to have noticed a particular thread. If you think that a thread would be well-served by having its title edited to something more descriptive, feel free to report it. The worst that can happen is that the mods will decide not to.