Well, I just started a thread in GQ, and I was about to end the title with a period, then I thought, "Wait, do other posters do that? And I went back into the forum front page and saw that there weren’t any. A couple of question marks, a few exlamation points. In a board so grammar-minded it seems silly that we don’t. Or is it that a thread title is just that, a title, and not specifically speaking a sentence?
I think this is your answer.
Because punctuation interferes with poetry?
I can’t answer for others, but I do think of my title as simply a title, and punctuate appropriately, including capitalization. Questions or exclamations in titles do receive their marks, but there are rarely periods.
Most thread titles aren’t sentences, and Mrs. Strand would hunt me down and thunk me with a hardbound copy of *Warriner’s * if I put a period at the end of a sentence fragment.
Note also that running the numbers shows that the additional strain on hardware caused by adding a period to each thread title would cost upwards of 3.2 million dollars.
(ETA: decimal error, sorry. That should read 3.2 dollars.
Commonly accepted contemporary usage is that one does not end a title with a period. Period.
Only once a month …
I was just looking over my bookshelf and noted the following titles:
Holy Bible.
The Confessions of Augie Marsh.
The Sun Also Rises.
Le Morte D’Arthur.
The Source.
Cannery Row.
Nine Princes in Amber.
Then I realized that I had imagined all the periods.
(We prefer pregnant titles, here.)
Yes, and I feel the need to capitalize all but the most common words. Articles, conjuctions, and pronouns, mostly.
Am I operating on a correct assumption here?
True Blue Jack
I’m also guilty of ending a title with a period, but I don’t always use all those caps.
I figure that if you’re going to use question marks and exclamayion polnts, you aught to use periods. It’s only fair.
Thread titles are not book titles.
Peace,
mangeorge (Not capitalized, as is my right.)
Book titles, short story titles, movie titles, etc. you should capitalize all the important words.
Thread titles? Well, I wouldn’t swear that there aren’t other conventions on other message boards, but it looks to me like more people than not only capitalize the first word and any proper nouns.
That said, enough people capitalize assorted important words that (especially in a short title) you are fine capitalizing assorted important words.
Have you read a newspaper lately? Thread titles are like newspaper article titles.
All the important words?? Now you’ve hurt the feelings of indefinite articles everywhere!
From The Chicago Manual of Style, 13th ed. (yeah, I’m too cheap to stay current), p. 222:
This is followed with stuff on when and when not to capitalize the second word in a hyphenated compound, but I’ll spare you.
(Gotta admit this is the first time I ever heard that the last word in a title must be capitalized.)
Okay, to make things clear in a yes or no way… since thread titles are “titles” and don’t require punctuation, is it good etiquette to capitalize?
It would not appear to be necessary to me . . . but if it makes you feel better, sure, knock yourself out.
Thank you, Eureka.
True Blue Jack
…
Ok, that’s enough for everyone to share. Can I get some help passing them all out to the threads? 