
This title is link bait - llambda
http://raganwald.posterous.com/this-title-is-link-bait
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malandrew
I'm 100% in favor of the content of this article, BUT the argument should only
apply to the title of the post of the article on the author's own blog.

A blog post author has two audiences, himself and his readers, thus his
obligation is to himself and his readers. He should try to get as many
eyeballs for himself and try to entertain his readers as much as possible.

Hacker News has one audience, the community of hackers reading HN, thus the
obligation of someone posting a link on HN is to their fellow HNers. The
submitter of a link should give it a title that maximizes the utility for
other Hacker News members. Karma doesn't exist for the benefit of individuals,
it was instituted as an effort to promote good behavior that benefits the
community. The title of the link on posted on HN should be written with the
goal of providing the most utility possible to other Hackers and does not need
to be the same as the post title, and in fact should be different if it can be
improved to help other HNers better decide if it is a link that may interest
them.

When a post author submits a link on HN, they have a responsibility to the
larger community first and foremost, and to themselves as the author of the
blog post in a far second.

It's acceptable for an author to give his post a link-bait title. It's
unacceptable for a fellow HNer to give his submission a link bait title,
because doing so benefits the blog post author at the expense of the HN
community. When the person submitting a link is deciding what title to use for
a link submission to their own article, they should determine that title based
on their role/identity as a member of the HN community. To do otherwise is
disrespectful.

Remember: A group is its own worst enemy.
<http://www.shirky.com/writings/group_enemy.html>

~~~
raganwald
I agree. It is the _submitter's_ responsibility, which is why the article
addresses the blog author and explicitly tells HNers to use the site's
existing tools: flags, votes, and the ability to edit the title to be
appropriate for HN.

~~~
malandrew
Yup. The only thing that wasn't clear is that when there is a conflict of
interest, such as when the submitter is also the author, that one should look
out for the commons first.

