We've taken a crack at a more neutral headline. (Submitted headline was "Maryland couple fights home owners assoc. and wins ushering in new state law".) The submitter did have the right idea, because the NYT title was linkbait—Clash/Bobby Fuller references notwithstanding—and the HN guidelines ask submitters to rewrite those.
(Mind you, the linkbait headline is so good that we could probably just go with it. Borderline call.)
I’d already read the original “Fought the Lawn” article and clicked on the link for this post because I thought it meant there was a follow-up article. So I got clickbaited by un-clickbait.
And then I, rules nerd, rabbit-hole scrolled all the way down however-many comments to find out whether anyone noticed or cared. I believe I will go paint my house purple now.
(Mind you, the linkbait headline is so good that we could probably just go with it. Borderline call.)
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html