On: Top 10% of American adults consume, on average, 74 alcoholic drinks per week

[therealdrag0]

Or: Top 10 % drink 10 drinks a day :/

[lisper → therealdrag0]

Actually, by strict adherence to HN rules the headline should be "Think you drink a lot? This chart will tell you." (Which IMO is a perfect illustration of why this is a stupid rule.)

[dang → lisper]

That's not true. The rule calls for changing the headline when it is misleading or linkbait. "Think you drink a lot? This chart will tell you" is arguably bait because it uses the "you" trick and the "this" trick.

[diminoten → dang]

Yeah but shouldn't it be "top 10% of American people", not drinkers?

Seems a little misleading, as the population of drinkers is only 70% of the actual population.

[dang → diminoten]

Ah, good point. The article says "adults" not "drinkers". Thanks!

[PhasmaFelis → dang]

The rule is not followed well, then, since clear, descriptive headlines are often replaced with original headlines that make no sense out of context.

[dang → PhasmaFelis]

Often? I'd have to see examples.

We certainly don't claim to apply the rule correctly all the time. We are, however, happy to be corrected. The best way to complain about a title on HN is to suggest a better one.

[PhasmaFelis → dang]

I haven't been keeping a list, unfortunately. I mostly become aware of it when a poster mentions that their original title was changed from <something descriptive> to <something else>. Is there a way to direct that to someone who can do something about it without coming off as a pest?

[dang → PhasmaFelis]

The way to ask questions about HN moderation is to email hn@ycombinator.com.