32
$\begingroup$

I've noticed that there are two users (here and here) are including the word "Beautiful" in the title of almost every question they ask. It seems to me that the purpose of including that word in the title is largely to attract more attention to the question (or for perhaps some other motive) and doesn't actually help increase the visibility of the question to other people who might have the same question, nor provide any extra insight into what the problem might actually be.

By my own stylistic standards, I would certainly remove the word from the title, but I feel that doing so would clearly conflict with the author's intention. If this is simply a behavior that I, personally, find annoying, I'd rather defer to the author and keep the titles, but if it is a genuine issue, it would be good to do something about it - and I don't know which of those options it is.

Is this behavior problematic? Should something be done about it?

$\endgroup$
20
  • 10
    $\begingroup$ It’s harmless, and I find it mildly amusing. (Though I may end up with a hardwired connection between beautiful and the name Jackie!) It may even serve a small useful purpose: those titles aren’t likely to conflict with others. $\endgroup$
    – Brian M. Scott
    Commented Nov 23, 2014 at 18:49
  • 33
    $\begingroup$ Other users are picking it up, too: existing titles serve as examples to others. What will they do when "beautiful" becomes too commonplace and stops grabbing attention? After a few iterations, we'll have "An AWESOME inequality that will Rock Your Socks Off!!!". $\endgroup$
    – user147263
    Commented Nov 23, 2014 at 20:30
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Older related posts: meta.math.stackexchange.com/questions/5082/… and meta.math.stackexchange.com/questions/2664/… $\endgroup$
    – Martin Sleziak
    Commented Nov 23, 2014 at 23:34
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ On the same (amusing) vein, Ugly in titles almost reads like a mathematical term. Beautiful beats ugly by 38 to 12. I also see 3 horribles and 62 elegants. $\endgroup$
    – J. W. Perry
    Commented Nov 24, 2014 at 0:27
  • 6
    $\begingroup$ @J.W.Perry I'm shocked nobody used "charming" yet. $\endgroup$
    – user147263
    Commented Nov 24, 2014 at 0:42
  • 5
    $\begingroup$ Interesting: 387 interesting questions, and 376 easy questions. $\endgroup$
    – J. W. Perry
    Commented Nov 24, 2014 at 0:55
  • 6
    $\begingroup$ And just two wicked ones. $\endgroup$
    – user147263
    Commented Nov 24, 2014 at 1:23
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ Kind of hypocritical to use it yourself, don't you think? I'm only joking! $\endgroup$
    – GeoffDS
    Commented Nov 24, 2014 at 4:33
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ Hmmm... maybe I should go with supercalifragilisticexpialidocious for maximum attention... $\endgroup$
    – JohnD
    Commented Nov 24, 2014 at 4:43
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ This question should be renamed as A beautiful question on "beautiful" title(s). :) $\endgroup$
    – hrkrshnn
    Commented Nov 24, 2014 at 7:34
  • 3
    $\begingroup$ You can always downvote the questions if you consider them less beutiful than their author claims. $\endgroup$
    – Michael Greinecker
    Commented Nov 24, 2014 at 8:42
  • 32
    $\begingroup$ We should introduce a new close reason: "question claims beauty... This question is claiming to be beautiful. As it's currently written, it’s hard to tell exactly what is beautiful about it. Please add a short explanation about its relative merits." $\endgroup$
    – user1729
    Commented Nov 24, 2014 at 10:16
  • $\begingroup$ @user1729, haha love it. $\endgroup$
    – goblin GONE
    Commented Nov 24, 2014 at 21:15
  • $\begingroup$ @Rafflesiaarnoldii both of the wicked ones are concerning "wicked" integrals! $\endgroup$
    – Joao
    Commented Nov 25, 2014 at 6:02
  • 3
    $\begingroup$ @Raff And, shortly thereafter, "First, I divided by $x+2$. What happens next will shock you!" Woe is the day when we have linkbait titles on SE. :) $\endgroup$
    – apnorton
    Commented Dec 1, 2014 at 21:38

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
21
$\begingroup$

It's useless, and should be replaced with a more descriptive title. Like this.

The Related column of every question heavily relies on the titles, and it does a decent job of picking up LaTeX syntax (unlike the regular search function). If a formula (e.g., an inequality) is used in the title, it increases the chance of truly related questions showing up, as opposed to other questions with "little" or "beautiful" in titles.

$\endgroup$
10
  • 3
    $\begingroup$ It serves a useful purpose if you feel like downvoting some questions for being poorly manipulative. $\endgroup$
    – gnometorule
    Commented Nov 23, 2014 at 19:44
  • 5
    $\begingroup$ Not sure if you are joking, but even I don't downvote questions based on title alone. I'd rather fix the title. $\endgroup$
    – user147263
    Commented Nov 23, 2014 at 19:46
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ I am serious but not facetious (as you are Mr Downvote you might have taken it personally which it wasn't). I'm on the record for disliking certain ways of presentation (terrible grammar, ...) as disrespectful; and drawing attention by false advertising is new, but not ok either. I downvoted some of theirs (I'm not a fan of cleaning up for users though as they should speak in their voice, on which you can comment by voting). $\endgroup$
    – gnometorule
    Commented Nov 23, 2014 at 19:50
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ ....probably the only humor is that I have a grammar error in a comment proselytizing about grammar...:) $\endgroup$
    – gnometorule
    Commented Nov 23, 2014 at 19:58
  • 12
    $\begingroup$ @gnometorule: Viewing poor grammar as disrespectful makes little sense on a site with so many people for whom English is a second (or later) language. $\endgroup$
    – Brian M. Scott
    Commented Nov 23, 2014 at 19:59
  • 8
    $\begingroup$ The user's comment "idk, just that more people see them" does suggest that using beautiful in titles is intentional clickbait. (Never mind the question being a duplicate, which I now voted to close as such.) $\endgroup$
    – user147263
    Commented Nov 23, 2014 at 20:01
  • 5
    $\begingroup$ @Brian: This is getting off-topic, but I obviously agree (I'm no native speaker myself but after 20 years in the US it's hardly fair to judge, say, undergrads in non-English speaking countries). It's not really grammar, and I've written what I mean elsewhere here (probably not as well as I should have). It's the "whats ur opinin guys on dat" type. While you are too chill and gentle to mind, you are an emeritus and among asker's audience. I don't like that, and find it disrespectful. $\endgroup$
    – gnometorule
    Commented Nov 23, 2014 at 20:04
  • 3
    $\begingroup$ @gnometorule: Ah, I see. Yes, that is a bit different from the sort of problem that I had in mind! I don’t mind it personally, but I do wonder whether the asker realizes that it puts him or her at a disadvantage. (I’m actually made much more uncomfortable by the sir that I get, e.g., from many Indian students). $\endgroup$
    – Brian M. Scott
    Commented Nov 23, 2014 at 20:10
  • 6
    $\begingroup$ @BrianM.Scott I find the "sir" I get mildly amusing. Especially when my students start calling me "sir user1729". $\endgroup$
    – user1729
    Commented Nov 24, 2014 at 10:12
  • $\begingroup$ The use of the work 'beautiful' in the title is a nod to one of the world's famous aesthetes. $\endgroup$
    – copper.hat
    Commented Dec 2, 2014 at 22:53

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .