Creating a Great Title for Your Thread.

A good title should represent what the thread is about and generate an interest in clicking the thread link.
Think about when you read a news paper. Most people scan the headlines and if one looks interesting they will read the article. Threads titles like “What Happened?” “I Can’t Believe This.” or, “Help!” are meaningless. Thread titles should be made of complete thoughts, “What Happened to the Gold Vault in the WTC?” “I Can’t Believe This, My Employer Will Fire Me if I Don’t Get a Chip Implanted.” or “Help! My House is Haunted!”

ATS has always tried to maintain a high quality. Using all capitol letters will not help your thread get attention. In fact when a mod sees such a title they will “un-cap” it and leave this note, Mod Edit: All Caps – Please Review This Link..
However using capitol letters in a professional way will really add credit to your thread title. Instead of “ufo fleet seen over the town of green river” use “UFO Fleet Seen Over the Town of Green River.”
Proper use of punctuation can also do your thread credit. If your title is a question, use a question mark. But don’t use ten of them. When trying to use emotion in the title there is no need to use more than 3 punctuation marks (??? or !!!).

If you can be poetic with your title it can go a long way in grabbing people’s interest. Also think of what “key words” to be in the title. If someone was googling for the subject of your thread, would they be able to find it?

I hope this thread can be of some help to the members here and if anyone has any tips or something productive to add please do.

Sometimes the Title of your thread will dictate the response you may recieve.

Attention grabbers are always something to strive for, without going over the top.

As Umbrax said, Titles like:

creating a great title for your thread

or

CREATING A GREAT TITLE FOR YOUR THREAD!!!!

will rarely be accepted with open arms. Something I try to do with General Forums is leave the topic alittle open. If I were to create a thread about my favorite band The Beatles, I would do something like this:

The Beatles & Their Music

Something over the top would be:

BEATLES! Best band ever!

So my thoughts would be try not to restrict your thread in the title, leave alittle room for discussion. A thread that is going to be controversial, I would always try to stay partially neutral in the thread title. Why? Well if you post something controversial with a one sided title, members will be posting without even reading your initial post. The flames will be shooting as soon as their eyes hit your title, quickly skim, at best, your post and then fire back at you.

So if it is controversial, leave that whammy! until your post. Atleast this way those who are responding, will atleast have to read your post before they can fire at you.

George Bush is the WORST President ever!!

Believe me this has been hit again and again on ATS, members will respond to your thread the same way they have the last hundred threads that have said this. So what I did when I created a Bush thread was this:

Bush: Was It Bad Timing?

Now this way I can elaborate my opinions on Bush, still while getting respectful opinions from both sides of the coin. I'm not pointing the finger, yet still getting the opinion across.

I Applaud Umbrax for initiating this thread, alot of times good threads go under before they had a chance, Only due to the radical title the author had given it. Hopefully some of this information helps a member.

First, they are "Capital" letters. "Capitol Letters" belong in the Clinton Library . . .


Part of the real reason for bad titles is that they attract more conversation. An accurate title dissuades such response, especially if it is seems authoritative.


My Clowns enhance fertility thread never even got a first response.



Oh well. Stay tuned for my "sex crazed hypnotist arrested in Sorority mix-up!" thread.

Originally posted by dr_strangecraft

First, they are "Capital" letters. "Capitol Letters" belong in the Clinton Library . . .

Thanks for the productive addition to this thread. I’m looking forward to your thread on correct spelling to help this community.

In my country “capitol” isn’t even a word. It would have been caught if I didn’t have to spell everything in American and use an American Dictionary spell checker so that most people will understand me. (I’ve seen what happens when people use “colour instead of “color.”:lol

Originally posted by chissler
George Bush is the WORST President ever!!

Believe me this has been hit again and again on ATS, members will respond to your thread the same way they have the last hundred threads that have said this.

Most people wont even read the thread with a title like that and will only respond to the thread’s title.
That is some good advice chissler.

Thread titles can go a long way in the success of a thread. But there are other factors like time of the day and what other current events are going on. Yes, and sometimes a dud is a dud.

Just for the record, I will continue to use COLOUR in all it's glory.... like my sarcastic HUMOUR?

Spelling and grammar aside, Umbrax raises a good point. A suitably labelled title can draw a much greater crowd than an ambiguous or even bluntly unidentifying one.

I will put my two cents in.

We are in essence, a community of higher intellect. We become that, by questioning everything and discussing the rest.

Spell check and a thesaurus should be at hand for all thread authors. I for one, will not even grace a misspelled thread with a click. I also avoid those with bad grammar, punctuation and the use of local euphemism.

Just my opinion.

Semper

Originally posted by semperfortis

We are in essence, a community of higher intellect. . . .

We certainly have a lot of higher intellect present in discussions; but we have all types here. All education, age, and skill levels, as well as different levels of interest. Some threads may be authored by a person who has personal experience in the topic or field. Others are just passing by, making (sometimes quite useful) observations, and injecting rumour.

Sorry about the capitol remark. Didn't mean to set you off. I'm always trying to improve my elocution, American or English. When in Rome, Loquerisne Latina and all that.

.

My thread titles pwn joo all.


vs

would be a good thread...


ahh...yeah.

Spell check...

www.spellcheck.net...

Here's an excellent little, unobtrusive spell checker, in case you need one: IESpell 2.1.1 build 325

So I take it I should keep fighting those urges to title my threads with shameless eye catching buzz words like:

HOT CHICKS! and top secret documents.

Make Money On Line! with these magical rituals of the illuminati.

The Government is Going to Kill You! if you don't watch this youtube vid.

Would these be considered unacceptable?

Or can I go ahead and let the urges win.

Spider

GO Spider!!!

Great titles! Love 'em.

They WORK!!!!!

Thanks Soficrow,

I'm all about proper marketing or I guess improper markerting.

Always happy when I give somebody a chuckle

Spiderj

Unfortunately, you also need to pick a topic that involves something so outlandish that people are going to click it out of morbid curiosity.

www.abovetopsecret.com...'


I have watched thread after thread of carefully researched facts that should incense and infuriate people, make them quake with fear, and/or reveal some sort of amazing and above all, VERIFIABLE truth so incredible that it begs to be known...

...and watch it die, unread by any but a handful of users who didn't even reply. As it sinks inevitably to the bottom of the first page, and then on to page 2 (as good as a death sentence for a thread), I watch as the most outlandish threads about Masons, Muslims, and 2012 float to the top and stay there, read in the thousands, responded to in the hundreds...

...am I jealous? Yeah. A little bit. It sucks that I can put weeks worth of research, carefully linked quotes, and detailed analysis into a post about a real, tangible threat, one that requires no imagination and has all the evidence in the world, and yet the only threads that see some eyes and fingers are the ones where two or three poorly written sentences make a completely unsubstantiated inflammatory claim. It makes me wonder what the point is of trying to be a serious poster, why I should bother with research, and why I should choose real world topics instead of randomly throwing a dart at the wheel of make-believe.

Errr... and now I'm rambling. Sorry. Don't know what came over me.

(picks up soapbox, looks around sheepishly, and briskly walks away).

Originally posted by thelibra

It sucks that I can put weeks worth of research, carefully linked quotes, and detailed analysis into a post about a real, tangible threat, one that requires no imagination and has all the evidence in the world, and yet the only threads that see some eyes and fingers are the ones where two or three poorly written sentences make a completely unsubstantiated inflammatory claim. It makes me wonder what the point is of trying to be a serious poster, why I should bother with research, and why I should choose real world topics instead of randomly throwing a dart at the wheel of make-believe.

I hear ya.

But titles DO make a difference. Just u2u spiderj for help if you need ideas.

Originally posted by thelibra
It makes me wonder what the point is of trying to be a serious poster, why I should bother with research, and why I should choose real world topics instead of randomly throwing a dart at the wheel of make-believe.

Because regardless of their performance here, such truths require utterance in order for them to have ANY chance of prevailing.

Slow and steady wins the race... If you manage to inspire just one person, or affect any change, however small, you will have left the world in a better state than how you found it.

I realize that immediate feedback and acknowledgment can be important to a poster's psyche, but do not discount the importance the simple act of posting "the truth" represents-- breathing life into the chance I mention above. I think you can derive satisfaction from that.




[edit on 15-9-2006 by loam]

Originally posted by loam
I realize that immediate feedback and acknowledgment can be important to a poster's psyche, but do not discount the importance the simple act of posting "the truth" represents-- breathing life into the chance I mention above. I think you can derive satisfaction from that.

Thanks for the pep talk, m8. And you're right, I do. I honestly do get some satisfaction from the allegorical candle-of-truth-in-the-wind wossname, and for the most part it's why I try to keep that way. If it's not here, it's in my journal, or my books, and I don't know that I could be fanciful now if I tried.

Umbrax, thank you for starting this thread!

My titles must really suck because no one ever posts in my threads. Except for the one about Borat getting punched in the face. For some reason, that one just took off.

But, like loam said, slow and steady and all... I keep trying.

And, thelibra, don't be discouraged. I enjoy your work, but sometimes, if the original post is 'too' well-written, people just don't have anything to add. Especially with the no 'one-liners' rule.

I wonder if this title is good enough for a BTS thread?

I Am A Happy Camper Today!!

We should also remember, interest in a story is not 100% dependent on the title.

As individuals, we all want to think that our interests are interesting. (huh?) The truth is however somewhat more complex.

Those things we call personal interests, things that fascinate us, are motivated and developed through such things as societal standing, employment and upbringing. No two people are ever going to be interested in exactly the same things.

(SHOCKING) But I have written threads that received no response at all!!! (Hard to believe huh?.. LOL)

I completely agree that proper thread titles and impact statements are necessary and generate interest in the topic, but lets not get discouraged because others did not think it worthy.

There has even been some controversy over news items showing bias. Heaven knows there are enough threads on it, I would subject to you that it is difficult to find a news article, here or anywhere, that shows NO (0) Bias on the part of the author. Not on CNN, CBS, Fox or ATS.
Yet I see on other boards where some people are slamming ATS because stories are approved that show a slant one way or the other. So instead of posting worthy (According to them) articles and attempting to improve this, they go "outside" and complain. Also one will note that most of the complaints are about stories that disagree with the particular mindset of the individual complaining. "Go Figure"

So yes, GREAT TITLES,

No on being discouraged because there may be little interest.

Semper