Proposal: Changing thread title

[RRW]

i just wondering if i can make some request of forum modification.

anyway to the question.

can you make thread title can be change by thread marker if the want to

[felix]

It can be changed in the first 10 minutes. Afterward, it’s no longer your business to change it (even if you didn’t get it right). You may request for it to be corrected or altered by reporting your post, provided it’s in everyone’s best interest.

[RRW]

i know that. but i want that you can change if you are the thread maker at anytime.

[Kotohono]

Originally Posted by RRW

i know that. but i want that you can change if you are the thread maker at anytime.

Without requiring a reason allowing this would open the door to all sorts of trouble and confusion really .

Edit: Perhaps for the "suggestion" forum it would be useful and not as trouble causing, but for the other areas of the forum I can't imagine why it should be allowed.

[felix]

Originally Posted by RRW

i know that. but i want that you can change if you are the thread maker at anytime.

We can’t have that. It’s a consequence of the no multiple threads rule…

[RRW]

Originally Posted by felix

We can’t have that. It’s a consequence of the no multiple threads rule…

what you mean

[Kotohono]

Originally Posted by RRW

what you mean

Because it would allow a user to create multiple of the same topic if they edited the titles of all of them, part of why threads get merged if a similar topic already exists.

[RRW]

how does changing title related to multiple thread?

[Kotohono]

Originally Posted by RRW

how does changing title related to multiple thread?

Because if a topic's title is set after 10 minutes then the mods know it can't be abused later, but if someone could change it any time then they could wait a few weeks with a number of topics and then change them all to the same topic and thus causing confusion and annoyance exactly why it isn't allowed.

[felix]

Moderators will rarely if ever look at the first post. We have only global moderators, basically they all work on everything. Since they all work on everything, there are plenty of cases/sections where merges happen on thread title alone, because there’s nobody qualified (not to mention a lot probably happen via searches).

> Created thread "Hello world"
> Moderators merge "Hi, everyone"
> Moderators merge "Hi I'm new"
> Thread title change "Serious Programing Discussion"

Oh crap…

Basically, merges are only tangibly related to the topic even when they are proper merges, same could be said for a lot of posts that reply to the topic (sadly). Allowing for thread title to be changed something silly like one year after, can lead to the thread being a complete mess. If you mess up the title, you should just assume you messed up the thread and simply create a new proper one.

There’s also the problem of topic changing. This is not a IRC channel where you just change the topic. What’s said is said, it’s not up to the opening to direct the topic, nor change the topic.

And then there’s the ever present danger of trolling. Threads don’t belong to the user who created them, so it makes sense for the title to be set in stone. This prevents any worry about that getting abused. Sadly a lot of people come from other forums with the notion of “[please delete this thread]” for titles when things don’t go as planned. It’s silly, stupid and annoying.

Then there’s the problem of confusion. If thread titles change too often, it becomes confusing what is what. And I’m sure there would be those who would abuse it to no end if it came to be *coughFanCreationcough*.

[Solace]

Originally Posted by felix

Moderators will rarely if ever look at the first post. We have only global moderators, basically they all work on everything. Since they all work on everything, there are plenty of cases/sections where merges happen on thread title alone, because there’s nobody qualified (not to mention a lot probably happen via searches).

Not qualified? True, we do work on everything, but give us some credit. We do our best to make sure merges are appropriate, and this does involve reading more than just the last few posts, believe it or not.

The reason we don't allow thread creators to change titles after their thread has existed for more than 10 minutes is simply to prevent abuse. It has nothing to do with thread merging. We'll happily fulfill a request from a thread creator to change the title, as long as it is reasonable.

In any case, the suggestion is noted but at this time we aren't going to change our policy regarding thread title changes.

Thread closed.