Editing the titles of threads?

[Black Panther]

Just a thought but wouldn't it be more feasible if the OP were enabled to edit the title of the thread made?

The first thing would be obvious spelling mistakes (ie the "Which video card is butter" thread which often surfaces for example :laugh:).

Another reason would be that members might for example create a thread listing the symptom of their problem as the title, only to realise after reading the replies that it would have been better if they listed the particular hardware/software causing the problem which they hadn't known before reading the feedback given.

Imo this would make the whole forum appear neater, more specific, enable better results for the search function and save work off our already busy mods for having to correct spelling mistakes or possibly amend thread titles themselves upon request of the OP.

[PVTCaboose1337]

This has always been a problem and I don't think it needs to go on any longer. I agree. +1.

[panchoman]

Indubitably. It would be so wonderful if I could edit my thread titles so that grammar, punctuation, and spelling are flawless.

[Polaris573]

It's fine with me.

No single word posts panchoman, this includes "+2". I took the liberty of interpreting what you meant with your two character post and translating it for the rest of us.

[Azazel]

i thought you could do that already :p

+4

[panchoman]

my bad there polaris, terribly sorry

oh a silly note, wouldn't +2 actually be 2 words? :p

[Polaris573]

No, it's not even really one word. Just an amalgamation of two mathematical symbols. Since when is two characters without a space separating them two words?

i thought you could do that already :p


Only for the first few minutes I believe.

[panchoman]

ah, you got me there, but if you expanded it, it would be "plus two", just like how lol would become "laugh out loud" :p

[Polaris573]

This thread is getting off track. PM or MSN me if you want to discuss grammar rules.

[Azazel]

you two need to get laid...if you talk on msn about grammer... :p

[panchoman]

lol i didn't even realize that polaris had an msn lol :p azazel, i get laid plenty, dont worry :p

anyway polaris, terrible sorry about the post, and sorry for that hijack there, was just messing around

anyway back on track, i think this would be a great idea but i wonder if it might get abused

[Polaris573]

Next person off topic gets an infraction. I'm not kidding when I tell people to get back on topic. However, yes, if he actually wanted to continue discussing grammar with me on MSN..........

[Black Panther]

i think this would be a great idea but i wonder if it might get abused

It's difficult to see where the abuse might occur.
The title would be able to be changed only by the OP.
Perhaps I'm naive but which OP will 'abuse' the same thread he created?

Imo more unintentional abuse is created where the OP sees that the thread isn't getting the replies he needs because of miswording the title, and hence he opens another thread on the same topic but with the appropriate title this time.

[Joshmcmillan]

Indubitably. It would be so wonderful if could edit my thread titles so that grammar, punctuation, and spelling are nearly flawless.

plus five.

[sneekypeet]

I agree with this...

@BP maybe get with a mod and add a poll to make support for your question easy to see?

@Polaris...is this request even feasable to do?

[PVTCaboose1337]

I am thinking there might be some abuse, just like with tags...

[sneekypeet]

I am thinking there might be some abuse, just like with tags...

Again tho,as BP says, with your name being attatched to the thread being abused, arent you just getting in line for a whack from the stick?

[PVTCaboose1337]

Ya I can see someone getting banned for some else changing the thread to "ATI RULEZ INTEL SUX OMG"

[ShadowFold]

You would think that only the owner of the thread could change it..

[sneekypeet]

Ya I can see someone getting banned for some else changing the thread to "ATI RULEZ INTEL SUX OMG"

The request is that ONLY the OP and mods can have the ability to change the title tho! Just like editing your own txt in a post, but make it work for titles you have created as well.

[PVTCaboose1337]

The request is that ONLY the OP and mods can have the ability to change the title tho! Just like editing your own txt in a post, but make it work for titles you have created as well.

O alright, just checking... that sounds fair.

[Polaris573]

Poll added.

[ShadowFold]

I say why not. Would be kinda cool.

[PVTCaboose1337]

I think there is quite a consensus... 6 say yes. 0 say no. FTW?

[panchoman]

i wonder if this poll will turn out unanimous

[lemonadesoda]

Its a great idea. Especially if an item is [FS]. The OP can change that to [SOLD].

[Solaris17]

Im pretty sure we already do last time i treid it worked i bealive you can for the first 5min after the initial thread post.

[farlex85]

Who's the rebel?....

[Thermopylae_480]

Put thought into thread titles, and use proper grammar the first time. I don't see why that can't accomplished in one try. Many muss up titles grammatically out of ignorance of grammatical rules anyway, that'll only be fixed as English language skills improve. That might take months, years or never in some cases.

We'll see thread titles go from, "helps me my is moboz is broked!!!!" to "helps me my is moboz is broked!!!! helpz me fast now sumbodys."

[UnkAsn93]

Put thought into thread titles, and use proper grammar the first time. I don't see why that can't accomplished in one try. Many muss up titles grammatically out of ignorance of grammatical rules anyway, that'll only be fixed as English language skills improve. That might take months, years or never in some cases.

We'll see thread titles go from, "helps me my is moboz is broked!!!!" to "helps me my is moboz is broked!!!! helpz me fast now sumbodys."

:p

I must agree with BP here, as it would be a helpful tool. My Abit AT7 problem, back when I had it, I couldn't edit the title, to inform people that I got my issue resolved, and not everyone reads threads to see "issue resolved" in the OP or the post or anything.

Just my 0.02..

and Polaris, what's your MSN? I enjoy long grammatical debates. (jk)

[erocker]

It's all about patience. Take deep breaths, and think of a good title in proper english that all of the english speaking world or otherwise, can understand. I think most bad titles are written in haste, but of course there are exceptions, of which any moderator would be happy to assist with.:)

[Joshmcmillan]

lol erocker, I saw your display picture in an eBay listing for some reason. :)

[btarunr]

The thread starter should not oly be able to edit thread title but also close the thread. Hey, I start a thread I should be able to close it. Many times it so happens that a person starts a thread, his problem is solved in the first one or two posts and then the thread goes on into grade A1 nonsense. There's plenty of examples in the forum archives. This feature can also help the thread starter resolve potential flame-wars by simply closing the thread he started.

The alternatives we already know, of being careful when naming a thread and of being polite and not reply to a thread if the porblem is solved.

[Polaris573]

No. The original poster should not be able to close their thread. If it's closed and something needs to be added later then it can't be done.

[jbunch07]

never really had to edit a title of a thread and even if i did its not that hard to ask a mod to do it.
as far as closing goes, im sure if the moderators will close a thread if needed.

just dont get in such a hurry when posting new threads proof reading is your friend.

[btarunr]

No. The original poster should not be able to close their thread. If it's closed and something needs to be added later then it can't be done.

I'm talking in case of those threads where the first few posts answer the thread-starter's question(s) and the rest of the thread ends up in pointless junk. This would also help in buy/sell/trade threads where when the deal is done, all I have to do as the OP is Thread tools>Moderation>Close thread.

There also are countless threads where flamewars erupted when the OP was offline and then the OP comes back to "wtf how did all this happen? it shouldn't have happened".

[DanTheBanjoman]

We'll see thread titles go from, "helps me my is moboz is broked!!!!" to "helps me my is moboz is broked!!!! helpz me fast now sumbodys."

Suddenly the word "eated" comes to mind. Odd.

[Black Panther]

The issue of spelling mistakes is secondary actually. I'm sure nobody really minds spelling as long as the title gets understood. Though obviously good spelling in the thread titles will give a better impression of the forum to visitors.

However as others pointed out, it's handy in changing a FS thread to a SOLD one, for putting in "Issue Resolved" rather than having someone pick up the thread a week later and re-attempt to solve the OP's solved problem. This eliminates waste of time.

Also in certain cases (speaking from my experience here) often I get a pc symptom and googling leads me nowhere, so for example I post saying that I've got issue X. Two posts later I understand that it's all because of hardware Y. However I miss out having the experts of hardware Y to help me since my thread title is misleading.

I would like to know the reasons why 4 people voted against. :)
I haven't as yet seen a post saying the disadvantages which there might be for allowing the thread creator only to change the title.
After all everyone can edit their own post even a week or two later, so why not the title?

[jbunch07]

read my post
#35

im not saying its a bad idea but if you want the title changed all you have to do is ask a mod.
but i see what your saying, it would be that bad of an idea.

[Black Panther]

read my post
#35

im not saying its a bad idea but if you want the title changed all you have to do is ask a mod.
but i see what your saying, it would be that bad of an idea.

Exactly, but since when is shelving off some work from the mods not good? ;)

If this were implemented no one has any choice except to do it responsibly, as I pointed out before no OP will hijack his own thread by abusing in title change, for obvious reasons.

[jbunch07]

good point.

[Wile E]

I think it's a good idea. There are quite a few times I wished I could change my thread title to something better, or more useful. Sometimes a good title idea just doesn't come to you when are are posting a thread. Then later, a more fitting title pops into your head.

[hayder.master]

that's right my friend the word "butter" come back to me so am try hard to change but nothing i can do

[DanTheBanjoman]

The issue of spelling mistakes is secondary actually. I'm sure nobody really minds spelling as long as the title gets understood. Though obviously good spelling in the thread titles will give a better impression of the forum to visitors.

People who don't bother to use punctuation or correct spelling don't motivate me to even read their post, let alone help them out.

Sure not everyone speaks fluent English, however the English used by some of our UK and US members is something to cry about. And leaving out punctuation is not an excuse when English isn't your native language. It's plain laziness, and if you're too lazy to write a decent sentence, why would anyone spend energy on helping you?
Basically someone who makes a 100 word sentence that could crash a spellcorrector says "I'm to lazy to do anything, you solve my problems. Don't expect any decent input for me"

To put it in some perspective: Your friend/family/whatever asks you if you could help paint the house. You gladly help out but this friend/family/whatever sits on his/her arse doing nothing all day long. Sure, it's fun to help.


However as others pointed out, it's handy in changing a FS thread to a SOLD one, for putting in "Issue Resolved" rather than having someone pick up the thread a week later and re-attempt to solve the OP's solved problem. This eliminates waste of time.


Be honest, how many people here would actually bother to change their thread title to "solved" or whatever? I've been a mod here quite a while; and trust me, people won't bother.

[HTC]

This (http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=60519) post is a good example: i was preparing to answer saying that there's no way, to my knowledge, to format a portion of an HDD ... when the dude was referring to a partition.

Ofc, i miss read the word "and" right before "portion" which help with the confusion.

I have made quite a few editions to some of my topic titles, be it due to miss spellings or due to corrections for a better explanation (as much as one can be, in a topic).

I think it's a good idea. There are quite a few times I wished I could change my thread title to something better, or more useful. Sometimes a good title idea just doesn't come to you when are are posting a thread. Then later, a more fitting title pops into your head.

So true!

[DanTheBanjoman]

Originally Posted by Wile E View Post
I think it's a good idea. There are quite a few times I wished I could change my thread title to something better, or more useful. Sometimes a good title idea just doesn't come to you when are are posting a thread. Then later, a more fitting title pops into your head.

So true!

I disagree here. The situation in which this is true is:

-Install Windows
-Error
-Make a thread


While the right order should be
-Install Windows
-Error
-Actually read the error, think about what could cause it
-Try to solve
-Google for additional causes/solutions
-Make a thread

By the time you got to making a thread you should have come up with a title. People are far too hasty to make threads to ask simple questions. And because of that haste they often manage to give no details about the problem, this is also because they don't know any details since they haven't tried anything.

[Black Panther]

I disagree here. The situation in which this is true is:

-Install Windows
-Error
-Make a thread


While the right order should be
-Install Windows
-Error
-Actually read the error, think about what could cause it
-Try to solve
-Google for additional causes/solutions
-Solve the issue
-Make no thread


Fixed that for you :p (pls don't be mad at me!)
But I'm sure that if when someone has a problem and uses google in 90% of the cases they'd find the answers in other forums/websites, and we won't be having 2% of the threads we have now, resulting in an uninformative forum.

I'm not saying we shouldn't use google but googling shouldn't replace the discussion here...

[DanTheBanjoman]

Fixed that for you :p (pls don't be mad at me!)
But I'm sure that if when someone has a problem and uses google in 90% of the cases they'd find the answers in other forums/websites, and we won't be having 2% of the threads we have now, resulting in an uninformative forum.

I'm not saying we shouldn't use google but googling shouldn't replace the discussion here...

I should ban you for fixing me! (my native language isn't English, I have no clue what I actually said there)

And again I disagree. If people use Google more, real issues are easier to find, making the forum more informative. Currently 90% of the threads (just copying your number, it most likely isn't 90%) are copies of the same trivial questions. They clutter the forum so the other 10% doesn't get the attention it deserves.

Of course it works both way, there should be a decent balance. It's close to impossible to influence it though.

[lemonadesoda]

We'll see thread titles go from, "helps me my is moboz is broked!!!!" to "helps me my is moboz is broked!!!! helpz me fast now sumbodys."

You're giving an example of a useless title going to an equally useless title. IMO, the change makes no difference. The thread is not posted to and it quickly goes to the bottom.

The majority of situations where someone would like to change the title, IMO, will be +ve, if its a TPU user with a few stars and thanks. We cant treat all forum posters as completely incompetent. If someone abuses the title change... then you mods can enjoy getting your banstick out. :D

I think the ability for the OP to "close" the thread in some way, like "SOLD" or "SOLVED" is very helpful. For mods I think it would be helpful to. How many times do you think "that title fails the forum rules"... but what can you do? Now you can post saying "fix that title to something more useful or I'll close this thread".

The net net is that titles will get better AND follow TPU guidelines more often.

[Black Panther]

Be honest, how many people here would actually bother to change their thread title to "solved" or whatever? I've been a mod here quite a while; and trust me, people won't bother.

No one can know... not even a mod.
Because it was never possible to do.

I've had problems solved, I would amend the title to include (solved), but I don't have the guts to pm a mod every time I get a problem solved here...
(Believe me if I start doing that I'm sure all the mods here would suddenly agree to let members change the title of their thread!!):D

[DanTheBanjoman]

No one can know... not even a mod.
Because it was never possible to do.

I've had problems solved, I would amend the title to include (solved), but I don't have the guts to pm a mod every time I get a problem solved here...
(Believe me if I start doing that I'm sure all the mods here would suddenly agree to let members change the title of their thread!!):D

In the past four years we've allowed many things for the users, I've seen a lot happen. I think I've been here long enough to know how the average users are. You look at the issue from your own perspective, I look at the whole community. A hand full of people might bother, which simply isn't worth the abuse. Anything that can be changed will be abused. Look at the latest tag addition for example. Every single person here is a great comedian, yet I hardly ever laugh.

[btarunr]

No one can know... not even a mod.
Because it was never possible to do.

I've had problems solved, I would amend the title to include (solved), but I don't have the guts to pm a mod every time I get a problem solved here...
(Believe me if I start doing that I'm sure all the mods here would suddenly agree to let members change the title of their thread!!):D

Wouldn't it be nice if you could close the thread instead of a "(solved)"? Users could be given the option to close a thread they start.

The only potential abuse is that people would start and close threads at random, for which moderators can flex their give infraction buttons.

[DanTheBanjoman]

Wouldn't it be nice if you could close the thread instead of a "(solved)"? Users could be given the option to close a thread they start.

The only potential abuse is that people would start and close threads at random, for which moderators can flex their give infraction buttons.


Wouldn't be handy.

Say I have an issue, I start a thread. After 10 replies my issues is solved, I close the thread. Then it turns out you have the same problem, though part of the solution isn't clear and you wish to ask a specific question. You can't, so you have to make a copy of the thread. Or say you have a better solution, you can't add it. Which, in addition, will make the search function less effective. The few people who bother to use it won't find as much information as they could.

[btarunr]

Wouldn't be handy.

Say I have an issue, I start a thread. After 10 replies my issues is solved, I close the thread. Then it turns out you have the same problem, though part of the solution isn't clear and you wish to ask a specific question. You can't, so you have to make a copy of the thread. Or say you have a better solution, you can't add it. Which, in addition, will make the search function less effective. The few people who bother to use it won't find as much information as they could.

I would close a thread after the solution worked. At least it saves off-topic discussion while I'm away after getting those 10 replies. Point is, it's noted in many threads that the starter is answered in the first few posts and then other users start an off-shoot of the thread. Often off-shoots snowball into flamewars, "oh yeah?, I'll show you!" kind of posts. On the flipside I admit it's counter to the concept of a community where I can post on a thread lying dead since 2006 for an update, and that a user cannot be denied to post on a thread that he's looking for answers and not necessarily start a new thread all over. Lot of things to balance. :(

[Kreij]

I agree with Dan in that I do not think users should be able to close threads for the very reason he gave.

I would, however, find it handy on occasion to change one my own thread titles.
Usually just to make it a little more descriptive that the original.

I don't think changing the title should move it up on the thread list (like adding a post would).

Just my 2 cents.

[HTC]

Wouldn't be handy.

Say I have an issue, I start a thread. After 10 replies my issues is solved, I close the thread. Then it turns out you have the same problem, though part of the solution isn't clear and you wish to ask a specific question. You can't, so you have to make a copy of the thread. Or say you have a better solution, you can't add it. Which, in addition, will make the search function less effective. The few people who bother to use it won't find as much information as they could.

This could be fixed:

Why not give the original poster the ability to close and re-open (if necessary)?

[Kreij]

Well if someone comes up with a better solution and the OP is not around, they can't add to the thread.

[HTC]

Well if someone comes up with a better solution and the OP is not around, they can't add to the thread.

They can always PM the post's author, no?

[Polaris573]

This could be fixed:

Why not give the original poster the ability to close and re-open (if necessary)?

So then if someone wanted to ask a question in a thread they would have to PM the thread creator? That still creates a cluttered, inefficient, nightmare.

[HTC]

So then if someone wanted to ask a question in a thread they would have to PM the thread creator? That still creates a cluttered, inefficient, nightmare.

I see your point, dude.

Nightmare? I wouldn't say that, but i agree that it would complicate things, yes!

[thoughtdisorder]

Voted yes for the ability for the thread starter to change the title indefinitely.

My vote would be no on the ability to "close" the thread for the very reasons pointed out above by Dan and Polaris. Neat idea but not practical.

[Thermopylae_480]

Put thought into thread titles, and use proper grammar the first time. I don't see why that can't accomplished in one try. Many muss up titles grammatically out of ignorance of grammatical rules anyway, that'll only be fixed as English language skills improve. That might take months, years or never in some cases.

We'll see thread titles go from, "helps me my is moboz is broked!!!!" to "helps me my is moboz is broked!!!! helpz me fast now sumbodys."

:p

I must agree with BP here, as it would be a helpful tool. My Abit AT7 problem, back when I had it, I couldn't edit the title, to inform people that I got my issue resolved, and not everyone reads threads to see "issue resolved" in the OP or the post or anything.

Just my 0.02..

and Polaris, what's your MSN? I enjoy long grammatical debates. (jk)

Expand your vocabulary. Muss (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/muss) is not misspelt.

[Black Panther]

In the past four years we've allowed many things for the users, I've seen a lot happen. I think I've been here long enough to know how the average users are. You look at the issue from your own perspective, I look at the whole community.

You're 100% right there, I surely don't know the forum as much as you do since I discovered TPU only a year ago last May.
However, even though it might not appear, I did not make this suggestion from my own perspective but honestly I tried to look at the whole community and with the aim of making TPU a better place.

A hand full of people might bother, which simply isn't worth the abuse. Anything that can be changed will be abused. Look at the latest tag addition for example. Every single person here is a great comedian, yet I hardly ever laugh.

This is where I don't agree. I can't understand where this potential system of enabling the OP to change the title of his thread can be abused?

Okay some of the members stretched the argument into even allowing any member to close and re-open at whim the thread they started. That had never been my point and I don't agree with it at all. If someone makes a thread and people want to post then everyone should be free to post, and a normal member shouldn't be able to decide where and what other normal members post. That's a moderator's job and that really can cause abuse - imagine the scenario where someone asks for suggestions to buy parts, and because he doesn't like the replies/brands suggested he just bluntly closes the thread!:shadedshu

Also to make it clear, what I intended was that ONLY the OP would have the facility of changing the thread title.
After all, all members can edit their posts any time. No other normal member can edit another normal member's post, and the same should apply to the titles of the same post.

Let's just list the advantages and disadvantages of this suggestion, including the most trivial and the most important (summed up from what everyone posted so far):

The Advantages:

1) The editing of mistakes in the title. These can be spelling mistakes (like the better/butter one) or other types of mistakes like those of omission or because the OP doesn't natively speak English or isn't well conversed on the topic like the rest of the members and he realises he didn't formulate the title correctly/professionally.
Like the scenario where one askes for advice on the 8800GTS and after pressing the 'submit' button he realises that he omitted to say whether it's the G80 or G92 version. Or he's a newbie who realises that there had been 2 versions of that card only after reading the first couple of replies to his post because he just didn't know before. Or someone who was sure he had an E4300 only to realise after logging in to the other computer that it was an E4400...

2) The impression this forum gives to a newbie who comes here off google.
This complements the first reason above. Many people come here because they have a hardware/software problem, use google and this site comes up amongst the search. The first thing he sees is the title of the threads....

3) Sometimes even after careful thinking about how to formulate the title, the way the thread progresses makes it that ironically the title would be the only part of the thread which is "off topic" so to speak.
I bring this example - someone buys a new monitor, plugs it in, and the picture is mucked up. He makes a post about the monitor, the brand, its settings, going into details on ms, contrast ratio etc etc... A couple of posts later it surfaces that coincidentally the problem had been because the oc of his graphics card wasn't keeping up with the demands of the large monitor just purchased. What happens in such threads? Some members unfortunately just read the title, and give it a miss because they don't know much about monitors to give advice. They wouldn't know that the content inside the thread would have been discussion on the OP's graphic card. Or even worse, some people might read the title, and confident that they know the solution through personal experience might post advice on monitor settings/drivers etc without even realising that the problem had been the GPU all the way.

4) The Buy/Sell/Trade/Giveaway Forum.
In this case the OP can easily add to the title "SOLD" or "BOUGHT".
It will easily reduce confusion of having people asking about it, or having to read the whole thread to see what happened (which usually isn't done). Also it's a great benefit for members who have some hard-to-sell or hard-to-find item which has been in that forum for a couple of months because automatically people might think that since it's an "old" thread they just overlook it without bothering to post or pm the OP. And speaking of pm's it's very common that members don't know what happens in this particular forum since commonly transactions are finally carried out in private via pm.
Sure some OP's here might 'forget' to mark their thread appropriately, but this can hardly be classified as abuse since upon receiving such query they'd remember to amend the title so as not to be inundated by further queries for an item no longer available!

4) The moderators save some work.
I'm sure all of us respect their work, I have an inkling because I mod another (totally different genre of) forum. That's the reason why personally I don't send title change requests to our mods here because it can be quite a handful to deal with...
And to our mods, please don't expect us to be perfect. No one is perfect and it doesn't mean that if someone formulated a bad/misspelt title it automatically implies carelessness. We have members all over the world, ultimately all people interested in computers have the potential of finding their haven here. This includes people with ADHD who are impulsive and can't help it, and who might realise their mistakes later; people who are dyslexic but who otherwise are very knowlegeable... yet others who might not even be using their hands to control mouse and keyboard....
And to give a very trivial example on myself without pointing any fingers, lately I changed my mouse - I have to be extremely careful because I haven't got accustomed yet so as soon as I relax my hand on the thing I get the buttons pressed. That spells disaster if in the midst of a post I happen to have the pointer on the 'submit' button.

5) Last but not least, trying this out isn't something irreversible which once done is done. A trial could be done - for a week, for a month, whatever.

The disadvantages:

Sorry but I couldn't find any... :ohwell:

However looking at the trend of this thread, abuse was mentioned.
Also, the disadvantages of the 'thread tags' were mentioned for the precise reason because they were abused. However the tags were allowed to be placed anonymously, by any member, to any thread... Even the most mature member might get the temptation to play the 'invisible naughty guy'.
But here we're speaking, let's mention me Black Panther: I create a thread - I want to change the title - who can change it? - only me... So whatever happens to the title of the thread? - it's just like as if it had been my original title - it still has my name attached to it if I do something silly or abusive - who did it? - The answer would be myself and no one else. Do you think I'd ever even have the temptation to play silly in that way? You bet not!

If someone registers here to troll and spam/abuse he is certainly not waiting for the option to amend the title of his threads to be created, he will spam nonetheless so that's out of the argument.

The rest of us, who have friends here and a reputation, who like to help and be helped in return, might find it a temptation to add a silly/funny tag anonymously to some thread maybe just for a quick joke.... but does anyone of you fathom any way how you can 'abuse' by changing a title of a thread which you yourself created and which everyone knows that only you have the power to change the title of?

Anything that can be changed will be abused.
That's a correct statement, but its correctness doesn't justify the refusal for change. Maybe far-fetched but if no change ever happened for fear of abuse we'd still be neanderthals living in caves....
You know that anyone can edit their post - right now I can go and edit my 861 posts to display a direct link perhaps to some totally offensive or prohibited site or picture... and so can the rest of the 27,000+ members of TPU. But tell me how many members have abused their power to edit their posts so far???

Thank you for reading so far, those of you who made it! ;) Apologies for dehydration caused due to watering eyes...:)
Here's my conclusion:

I don't want to appear as if I'm forcing the issue. This is something only for W1zzard and our moderators to decide because they pay for this site and work hard for its optimal performance, undoubtedly because this is one of the most flawless forums I've ever been in.

But this was the reason why I didn't make it a poll in the first place because it wasn't my intention to put any pressure on the decision. It was not my insistence that a poll was created, though I am glad it was done since it better reflects the opinions here. For a similar reason I did not give any thanks to anyone's opinion.

However my persistence lies in that I am 100% convinced that were this to be implemented it would be a good decision for the good of all the members, the moderators and for the same optimal performance of TPU in general.

Had not been so confident about the above I wouldn't have placed this as a suggestion here for certain.

[UnkAsn93]

Expand your vocabulary. Muss (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/muss) is not misspelt.

Never heard of it before, so I assumed it was misspelt. My apalogizes for pointing you out with no background information!

[HTC]

Very well made argument: +1

[UnkAsn93]

+2

I can agree with it, and I think she makes great points!

[DanTheBanjoman]

This is where I don't agree. I can't understand where this potential system of enabling the OP to change the title of his thread can be abused?

I think I speak for all the staff when I say I don't understand how people manage to abuse anything you throw at them.


Also to make it clear, what I intended was that ONLY the OP would have the facility of changing the thread title.
After all, all members can edit their posts any time. No other normal member can edit another normal member's post, and the same should apply to the titles of the same post.

I'm aware of that part, otherwise I wouldn't even bother to give arguments.


Let's just list the advantages and disadvantages of this suggestion, including the most trivial and the most important (summed up from what everyone posted so far):

The Advantages:

1) The editing of mistakes in the title. These can be spelling mistakes (like the better/butter one) or other types of mistakes like those of omission or because the OP doesn't natively speak English or isn't well conversed on the topic like the rest of the members and he realises he didn't formulate the title correctly/professionally.
Like the scenario where one askes for advice on the 8800GTS and after pressing the 'submit' button he realises that he omitted to say whether it's the G80 or G92 version. Or he's a newbie who realises that there had been 2 versions of that card only after reading the first couple of replies to his post because he just didn't know before. Or someone who was sure he had an E4300 only to realise after logging in to the other computer that it was an E4400...

People who bother to correct thread titles already use decent titles. Titles that make the site look like a mess are made by people who won't bother to correct them in the first place.

The 8800 title is no issue, details like G80 or G92 are given in the description, not in the title. In the Netherlands basic education covers what should be in a title, introduction, body, etc. We learn to separate relevant things from irrelevant things. I'm not sure how this is in other countries but I consider this basic knowledge.



2) The impression this forum gives to a newbie who comes here off google.
This complements the first reason above. Many people come here because they have a hardware/software problem, use google and this site comes up amongst the search. The first thing he sees is the title of the threads....


Same as above, people making bad looking titles are the ones who don't bother to edit in the first place.

3) Sometimes even after careful thinking about how to formulate the title, the way the thread progresses makes it that ironically the title would be the only part of the thread which is "off topic" so to speak.
I bring this example - someone buys a new monitor, plugs it in, and the picture is mucked up. He makes a post about the monitor, the brand, its settings, going into details on ms, contrast ratio etc etc... A couple of posts later it surfaces that coincidentally the problem had been because the oc of his graphics card wasn't keeping up with the demands of the large monitor just purchased. What happens in such threads? Some members unfortunately just read the title, and give it a miss because they don't know much about monitors to give advice. They wouldn't know that the content inside the thread would have been discussion on the OP's graphic card. Or even worse, some people might read the title, and confident that they know the solution through personal experience might post advice on monitor settings/drivers etc without even realising that the problem had been the GPU all the way.

Not correct, apart from not understanding the function of a title (the title would contain image problems, not point at the cause, the monitor, unless this is already a fact) the discussion doesn't change the title. Even if someone tells you the cause is different, changing the title cause of that makes the thread unfindable. Since you'd change title 10 times in a discussion. Good luck finding your discussion every time the title changes.


4) The Buy/Sell/Trade/Giveaway Forum.
In this case the OP can easily add to the title "SOLD" or "BOUGHT".
It will easily reduce confusion of having people asking about it, or having to read the whole thread to see what happened (which usually isn't done). Also it's a great benefit for members who have some hard-to-sell or hard-to-find item which has been in that forum for a couple of months because automatically people might think that since it's an "old" thread they just overlook it without bothering to post or pm the OP. And speaking of pm's it's very common that members don't know what happens in this particular forum since commonly transactions are finally carried out in private via pm.
Sure some OP's here might 'forget' to mark their thread appropriately, but this can hardly be classified as abuse since upon receiving such query they'd remember to amend the title so as not to be inundated by further queries for an item no longer available!


The trade forum is the only forum I would see more gains than trouble. On the other hand I would prefer a simple status button that changes the tag in front. Otherwise you get things like "but the title said 2GB before" Some user control is agreed upon though.


4) The moderators save some work.
I'm sure all of us respect their work, I have an inkling because I mod another (totally different genre of) forum. That's the reason why personally I don't send title change requests to our mods here because it can be quite a handful to deal with...
And to our mods, please don't expect us to be perfect. No one is perfect and it doesn't mean that if someone formulated a bad/misspelt title it automatically implies carelessness. We have members all over the world, ultimately all people interested in computers have the potential of finding their haven here. This includes people with ADHD who are impulsive and can't help it, and who might realise their mistakes later; people who are dyslexic but who otherwise are very knowlegeable... yet others who might not even be using their hands to control mouse and keyboard....
And to give a very trivial example on myself without pointing any fingers, lately I changed my mouse - I have to be extremely careful because I haven't got accustomed yet so as soon as I relax my hand on the thing I get the buttons pressed. That spells disaster if in the midst of a post I happen to have the pointer on the 'submit' button.

I think being dyslectic is the worst excuse you can give. First of all reading your post an additional time helps. Second SPELLCHECKER, they go totally nuts when reading certain peoples posts. Sure they don't make your English perfect, they take out most of the errors though. Plus, last time I checked being dyslectic didn't influence making crap sentences or using punctuation. Someone who is both dyslectic and knowledgeable wouldn't be spotted as being dyslectic for that reason.


5) Last but not least, trying this out isn't something irreversible which once done is done. A trial could be done - for a week, for a month, whatever.

It is actually, unless you feel like changing everything back manually.

The rest of us, who have friends here and a reputation

I don't, and I do but not a good one :)

who like to help and be helped in return, might find it a temptation to add a silly/funny tag anonymously to some thread maybe just for a quick joke.... but does anyone of you fathom any way how you can 'abuse' by changing a title of a thread which you yourself created and which everyone knows that only you have the power to change the title of?

First of all I'll refrain from giving people ideas, second even if you, me, Jesus and Superman can't come up with anything there are plenty of people here who make it their duty to be king of clowns, lord of giggles, prince of you get the point.

we'd still be neanderthals living in caves....

It's arrogant and ignorant to think we're past that. But that's a completely different discussion.

You know that anyone can edit their post - right now I can go and edit my 861 posts to display a direct link perhaps to some totally offensive or prohibited site or picture... and so can the rest of the 27,000+ members of TPU. But tell me how many members have abused their power to edit their posts so far???

Plenty, I can read anything you changed. You don't want to know what certain people manage to twist. Removing words from posts, changing the whole post all together and denying saying stuff.


Thank you for reading so far, those of you who made it! ;) Apologies for dehydration caused due to watering eyes...:)

I get paid by the hour.

Here's my conclusion
I don't want to appear as if I'm forcing the issue. This is something only for W1zzard and our moderators to decide because they pay for this site and work hard for its optimal performance, undoubtedly because this is one of the most flawless forums I've ever been in.

The cashflow is an interesting one yes.

But this was the reason why I didn't make it a poll in the first place because it wasn't my intention to put any pressure on the decision. It was not my insistence that a poll was created, though I am glad it was done since it better reflects the opinions here. For a similar reason I did not give any thanks to anyone's opinion.

Spread that message please. Nearly everyone makes a poll for everything. "do we need this" which makes everyone think the staff gives a damn about the outcome. Starting endless discussions about issues that aren't even considered. Discussing is fine, the polls are annoying. Same as with "which card is better" actually, oh I hate polls. En ook pools, maar dat is weer iets anders.

[thoughtdisorder]

En ook pools, maar dat is weer iets anders.

Ja, dat is iets heel anders helemaal!:laugh:

[HTC]

Very well made counter-argument: +1

[hayder.master]

Sure not everyone speaks fluent English, however the English used by some of our UK and US members is something to cry about. And leaving out punctuation is not an excuse when English isn't your native language. It's plain laziness, and if you're too lazy to write a decent sentence, why would anyone spend energy on helping you?
Basically someone who makes a 100 word sentence that could crash a spellcorrector says "I'm to lazy to do anything, you solve my problems. Don't expect any decent input for me"


do you meaning this site made for u.s and british people only

and the people who vote yes more than 88%

[btarunr]

do you meaning this site made for u.s and british people only

and the people who vote yes more than 88%

No, he didn't mean that. He meant that there was no excuse for people from the US/UK for not using proper English, it being their native language.

[lemonadesoda]

The older you get... the more effort you expend to resist change.

[Thermopylae_480]

Resistance to change isn't the issue hear. The staff that maintain this forum are not a bunch of eighty year olds wistfully dreaming of past glory. The simple fact here is we have our own opinions on how to effectively manage this forum and how best to continue its on going success and growth. This duty is ours alone, and we make all final decisions on any suggestions. No matter how vehement the support by a minority of members for any idea, it is up to us to decide if it is truly in the best interest of the forums based on our experiences. We simply can't, and won't, act on or support every idea that someone comes up with.

Not every user idea is a good idea, no matter how much the individual thinks it is. Does everyone remember TPU! Chat? So many people clamored to have it repaired and moved to a more visible location that poor W1zzard spent his time fixing it and making the changes that many suggested. They all said that if it was working it would be wonderful and everyone would use it. Less than a week later TPU! Chat was as deserted as a ghost town.

[freaksavior]

i totally agree. im always pming a mod to edit my thread title.

so yes :)

[sneekypeet]

@ BP ...I'm sorry if my opinion to add the pool has in any way undermined your intentions or original purpose.

My thought was just to make it very obvious where we as a whole(TPU) felt on helping/backing the cause.


Maybe adding spell check to the quick reply window would help correct people in their haste. I myself find that I don't use it enough , nor do I use the advanced posting window unless I'm editing!

[Solaris17]

i think you can DL a add on for IE that checks your spelling while typing this firefox does it for me automatically

[sneekypeet]

i think you can DL a add on for IE that checks your spelling while typing this firefox does it for me automatically

Dont use IE or fire fox.....will google if my browser has the add on option!

[blkhogan]

I think personaly the author of the thread should have the ability to edit the title, thats it. The ability to open / close or edit threads would not be in the best intrest of the community. I have been a "mod" for a comumity site before, its not easy to say the least. The more power you put into the user's hands the more it will be abused. Eight out of ten user's would have no problem at all with the abilites, its the other two who would throw the comunity into a "frenzy" by abusing the ablilities. Keep the abilities in the hands of the "mod's" will insure the community run's on all cylinders.

[Solaris17]

Dont use IE or fire fox.....will google if my browser has the add on option!

Internet Explorer: iespell
http://www.iespell.com/

Firefox:built in

Opera: aspell
http://www.opera.com/support/tutorials/opera/spellcheck/

Safari: built in
http://8help.osu.edu/2143.html#safari(how to enable)

Crazy Browser:spellbound (http://www.masternewmedia.org/news/2004/09/06/browserbased_spell_checking_of_web.htm) or iespell.

[DanTheBanjoman]

i think you can DL a add on for IE that checks your spelling while typing this firefox does it for me automatically

I think we can agree it's quite ironic that you're the one pointing that out.

[sneekypeet]

thanks but nope, nope, nope ,and nope...I use crazy browser...nice little browser, but the add ons are limited. from what I get from the site...no spell checker. I will be sending emails to see if the is a compatable add on for my browser tho...thanks anyways Sol!


@ Dan...lmao...that is IRONIC!!!!!

[Solaris17]

ya i suppose im pretty known for it huh?

[Solaris17]

thanks but nope, nope, nope ,and nope...I use crazy browser...nice little browser, but the add ons are limited. from what I get from the site...no spell checker. I will be sending emails to see if the is a compatable add on for my browser tho...thanks anyways Sol!


@ Dan...lmao...that is IRONIC!!!!!

spellbound is supposed to work with crazy browser http://www.masternewmedia.org/news/2004/09/06/browserbased_spell_checking_of_web.htm
from what i found out iespell is supposed to work also

[sneekypeet]

spellbound is supposed to work with crazy browser http://www.masternewmedia.org/news/2004/09/06/browserbased_spell_checking_of_web.htm
from what i found out iespell is supposed to work also

supposed to yes....
http://img.techpowerup.org/080525/spell check.jpg

but I think we should take this hijack to MSN or dsomething...lol

[Thermopylae_480]

@ BP ...I'm sorry if my opinion to add the pool has in any way undermined your intentions or original purpose.

My thought was just to make it very obvious where we as a whole(TPU) felt on helping/backing the cause.


Maybe adding spell check to the quick reply window would help correct people in their haste. I myself find that I don't use it enough , nor do I use the advanced posting window unless I'm editing!

People don't even use the spell checker in their posts, why would they start using it in their titles?

[sneekypeet]

People don't even use the spell checker in their posts, why would they start using it in their titles?

As posted by Solaris , that was nipped in the butt due to most browsers having a spell check built in!

So no matter the options in TPU , there are no excuses really...lol

[thoughtdisorder]

@sneeky- According to this (http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file/fid,23109-order,1-page,1-c,alldownloads/description.html?tk=hsx) iespell works with crazy browser. Maybe give it a try? I use it and love it because there's a button right in the browser tool bar.

[sneekypeet]

@sneeky- According to this (http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file/fid,23109-order,1-page,1-c,alldownloads/description.html?tk=hsx) iespell works with crazy browser. Maybe give it a try? I use it and love it because there's a button right in the browser tool bar.

Ha, already had it in...lol

shows in the Advanced screen as ABC with a checkmark....I have to select all and right click to get the options in the quick reply window...lol:slap:

Thanks for the tip tho..at least it made me look into it a bit more!

[thoughtdisorder]

Ha, already had it in...lol

shows in the Advanced screen as ABC with a checkmark....I have to select all and right click to get the options in the quick reply window...lol:slap:

Thanks for the tip tho..at least it made me look into it a bit more!

Excellent!:toast: I use it constantly as my spelling isn't the best in the world!;)

[Black Panther]

Enabling the editing of post titles by the OP for just spell-checking is minor. Sure as I pointed out previously it has various advantages -- including having a neater forum over-all, better impression to visitors and it would help the search function to be really useful.

For those who think this might be abused, think again.
Suppose Black Panther makes a post on a graphics card. Then I get the reply... and I decide to abuse the title? How? By changing it to Nvidia roxxorz11!! or by telling everyone to f*** off? Sure that means that Black Panther just deserves to be banned and would be rightly so. After all anyone can edit all their posts without any time limit and if anyone wanted to abuse that they'd be banned / given infraction and rightly so. We are speaking of having only the OP enabled to change the title, same way as the writer of a thread can edit a post after all.

My intention was of enabling genuine titles to be changed. Come on not everyone is a pc guru here. Google upon google and study upon study we all might realise that something might have been worded better to get the maximum of attention.

But anyway, as correctly pointed out this is not for us to decide. Sure anyone might make a suggestion and get 88%+ support for it but that doesn't mean the suggestion would be implemented. That's why I didn't want to make a poll in the first place for this issue.

The thing is that is better for our mods to have a request to change title so they have to change it themselves rather than have it done by the OP. The sad thing is that, speaking for myself I've been member for a year, I asked on (only) two occasions for a thread title to be changed and for a thread to be deleted and in all instances my requests were ignored... :(

[Thermopylae_480]

Do you remember who you sent the request too? I almost always change thread titles if the request is reasonable. We don't usually close or delete threads at user request except in the buy/sell/trade forum. Threads are usually only closed or deleted if they are causing a problem. If you just wanted your thread closed because your problem had been solved, it isn't going to happen.

[Polaris573]

If you send a PM to a random staff member asking for a thread change it may take quite some time to get a response because they may be gone or busy for a long time and it's impossible to tell when they might get the chance to help you, if ever. The best thing to do if you want the title changed would to use the "report post" button on the first post of the thread and ask for a title change. This will send it off to our "reported posts" lists where all the moderators can see it and it is more likely someone will be online and able to help since you are drawing on a larger pool of people.

[hayder.master]

No, he didn't mean that. He meant that there was no excuse for people from the US/UK for not using proper English, it being their native language.


i know what he mean my friend , dan he is a good man have a good information but he always use a hard style with people i just want tell him we need everybody friend here and all of us need knowledge no one perfect here and in the world

[hayder.master]

dan sorry about that, realy i like your knowledge, and we need to be friends

[Black Panther]

Do you remember who you sent the request too?

Honestly it was months ago - I don't even remember the thread topic. I didn't post about it to complain but as a way to show how this idea can help the mods by reducing their workload. At least that was what I thought.

However it seems that since the very people against this idea are mainly the mods themselves, I think I was mistaken myself in thinking so, since the mods think it will cause them more work...
If this increases the mods' workload then obviously it isn't a good idea at all.
:toast:

[hayder.master]

Honestly it was months ago - I don't even remember the thread topic. I didn't post about it to complain but as a way to show how this idea can help the mods by reducing their workload. At least that was what I thought.

However it seems that since the very people against this idea are mainly the mods themselves, I think I was mistaken myself in thinking so, since the mods think it will cause them more work...
If this increases the mods' workload then obviously it isn't a good idea at all.
:toast:

no it is very good idea

[Polaris573]

Suggestions are always welcome. Never hesitate to make one.

[HTC]

Suggestions are always welcome. Never hesitate to make one.

Specially if using arguments and counter-arguments like those of posts #63 and #67.