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I would like to suggest a UX improvement for new users, so they're less likely to encounter edits / pushback from mods.

1. Summarize the problem

Code Review posters are typically new users. Submissions tend to be titled "How can I improve X?" rather than "Code that does Y." The site's help guidelines ask for the latter.

2. Provide details and any research

Go through the steps of posting a new question. You will see a modal popup that says

Asking a good question ...

Please read [link] What topics can I ask about here? and [link] How do I ask a good question?

1. The code must produce the desired output
2. The code must not error or contain known bugs
3. The title should describe what the code does
4. The more code you provide the more we can help ...

Those are all good, and this meta question focuses on item 3. Thing is, when you look at the UX, it's modal, the new user has dismissed it by the time they're composing their title.

Ok, we're still with that new user. What are they staring at? It's phrased like this:

Ask a public question

Title

Be specific and imagine you’re asking a question to another person

There is also helpful advice displayed in the right-hand gutter. The advice doesn't mention the Title field, but I'm not suggesting to change that advice, I feel it's fine as-is.

As a new user, thinking up a new Title, right there in my face I am being prompted with "imagine you’re asking a question to another person".

Greyed out there is low-contrast de-emphasized text encouraging me to

State the task that your code accomplishes. Make your title distinctive.

First sentence is helpful. It disappears immediately upon initial keystroke of the title being drafted.

3. Feature Request

Please change the persistent "... imagine you're asking ..." prompt to read "State the task that your code accomplishes." It is my belief that this would improve the quality of submissions and lead to fewer interventions from the mods.

I suspect there is some SE-wide aspect to the code which makes such a feature request "hard" to implement, but I'll just surface the need anyway, with fingers crossed.

Minor feature request:

Consider deleting that second sentence about "Make your title distinctive." It's a little helpful, it makes sense to me, since I read the FAQ / help pages. But it's a reference that asks you to recall the content of those pages. A new user maybe read the page, and maybe remembers its content. For a new user the 2nd sentence doesn't really seem to visibly improve submission quality.

This seems A/B testable. Call it a "question" if the title mentions why / how / what or ends with ? question mark. Declare victory if a new persistent prompt (B) yields fewer "question" titles than current (A).

For reference, this is what the modal currently looks like:

I would like to suggest a UX improvement for new users, so they're less likely to encounter edits / pushback from mods.

1. Summarize the problem

Code Review posters are typically new users. Submissions tend to be titled "How can I improve X?" rather than "Code that does Y." The site's help guidelines ask for the latter.

2. Provide details and any research

Go through the steps of posting a new question. You will see a modal popup that says

Asking a good question ...

Please read [link] What topics can I ask about here? and [link] How do I ask a good question?

1. The code must produce the desired output
2. The code must not error or contain known bugs
3. The title should describe what the code does
4. The more code you provide the more we can help ...

Those are all good, and this meta question focuses on item 3. Thing is, when you look at the UX, it's modal, the new user has dismissed it by the time they're composing their title.

Ok, we're still with that new user. What are they staring at? It's phrased like this:

Ask a public question

Title

Be specific and imagine you’re asking a question to another person

There is also helpful advice displayed in the right-hand gutter. The advice doesn't mention the Title field, but I'm not suggesting to change that advice, I feel it's fine as-is.

As a new user, thinking up a new Title, right there in my face I am being prompted with "imagine you’re asking a question to another person".

Greyed out there is low-contrast de-emphasized text encouraging me to

State the task that your code accomplishes. Make your title distinctive.

First sentence is helpful. It disappears immediately upon initial keystroke of the title being drafted.

3. Feature Request

Please change the persistent "... imagine you're asking ..." prompt to read "State the task that your code accomplishes." It is my belief that this would improve the quality of submissions and lead to fewer interventions from the mods.

I suspect there is some SE-wide aspect to the code which makes such a feature request "hard" to implement, but I'll just surface the need anyway, with fingers crossed.

Minor feature request:

Consider deleting that second sentence about "Make your title distinctive." It's a little helpful, it makes sense to me, since I read the FAQ / help pages. But it's a reference that asks you to recall the content of those pages. A new user maybe read the page, and maybe remembers its content. For a new user the 2nd sentence doesn't really seem to visibly improve submission quality.

This seems A/B testable. Call it a "question" if the title mentions why / how / what or ends with ? question mark. Declare victory if a new persistent prompt (B) yields fewer "question" titles than current (A).

For reference, this is what the modal currently looks like:

The Title section above the question Body: