How do you write subjects for threads that will be appropriately descriptive of the content, attract the replies you are interested in, and are still fun and interesting?
I would be particularly interested if you could describe your thought process per forum.
In Comments, you can usually just use the same title as the column you’re commenting on, if nothing else. In GQ and ATMB, the key is to make the topic relevant to the question. That way, the people who know about the topic will be the ones reading your thread. You don’t necessarily need to put the whole question in your topic; just the general subject will do. For instance, if you’re having trouble with AOL disconnecting you in the middle of posting, you might title your thread “How do I stop AOL from disconnecting me?”, or “AOL disconnects” or just “AOL question”. Another example: You might ask about “What causes centrifugal force?”, or you might call that thread “Physics question: Centrifugal force”, or even “Physics question”. This is largely a matter of style, of course. I don’t know much about threads in other fora, since I don’t read or post there as much.
By all means, avoid the sensationalistic titles, like “A question about pussy”, when you’re talking about your pet cat. That’s likely to get you a lot of views, but not many replies. Worse, many folks will see a title like that and think “How immature… He’s probably talking about his cat”, and not even open the thread.
I use a keyboard.
Hey, me too!
It really makes certain thread titles…see, for example, “D Flat Minor Seventh” in MPSIMS…easier to visualize.
I was going to complain about this advice, saying that “AOL question” is much too vague to be informative, but then it occurred to me, what else would anyone be asking about in an “AOL question” besides disconnects?
It’s true that “AOL question” or “Physics question” isn’t very informative, but then, it doesn’t need to be. You still have the body of the post to ask your question. It seems to me that the main purpose of the topic line is to let people know what sort of folks you’d like to read it and respond. Most physicist types on the board, for instance, will probably open a thread titled “physics question”, even if they don’t know what specific question it is.
On the other hand, there are a good number of topics which cross over into several disciplines. For instance, we just had a question in GQ asking about the physics behind a certain boxing strategy. A physicist or a boxer either one might be able to offer some insight on that one, so you’ll probably want a more informative title (as it did, in fact, have).
And another possible AOL question might be “How do I get rid of it”.
“A keyboard. How quaint.” --Mr. Scott in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
I stand moderated.