> I think the policy should be to trust members. If some HN users persistently editorialize or supply misleading titles, then they'll be flagged and lose credibility or get banned, dependent on how deliberate and egregious their title abuse. Members who submit informative titles will correspondingly be promoted. The karma/user identity system functions perfectly adequately in this respect. I agree that moderators ought to focus on moderating discussion (and reducing the prevalence of mean or stupid comments); reverting titles seems like a pointless distraction from that task.
How about introducing a karma threshold above which you are allowed to chose the title for the links you submit?
Maybe, but only if it were low. I've always felt that astute editing of a title makes a submission more useful and delivers value to other HN readers, and don't see how new members should be deprived of that avenue for differentiating themselves. I definitely pay attention to individuals based on the quality of their submissions, and I personally think the first submitter should have the privilege of choosing an appropriate title if the original article title is deficient in some way.
I have two reasons for feeling a bit strongly about this. One, I used to be work as a newspaper copy editor many many years ago, so I am bringing some professional experience to bear when I think about the headline of an article I'm posting. Two, what is 'of interest to hackers' is often tangential to the main subject of the article. Take an example from today's headlines (though I haven't posted any articles about it): I'm not really interested in the fact that two murderers are running around Florida after being incorrectly discharged from prison, but I am interested in the fact that it's possible to engineer such a discharge by filing falsified documents with the court system, which I think most people would agree is a classic system hack. So if I were submitting a story about this, I'd use a title that drew attention to that aspect of the story, which has been little commented upon by the general public because it seems like a nerdy detail.
How about introducing a karma threshold above which you are allowed to chose the title for the links you submit?