Comment by tomhow

If there really was a “mania for obscurity in titles” we’d see a lot more complaints than we do.

Our title policy is pretty simple and attuned for maximum respect to the post’s author/publisher and the HN audience.

We primarily just want to retain the title that was chosen by the author/publisher, because it’s their work and they are entitled to have such an important part of their work preserved.

The only caveat is that if the title is baity or misleading, we’ll edit it, but only enough that it’s no longer baity or misleading. That’s because clickbait and misleading titles are disrespectful to the audience.

Any time you see a title that doesn’t conform to these principles, you’re welcome to email us and ask us to review it. Several helpful HN users do this routinely.