11
\$\begingroup\$

I came across the following title on the HNQ list.

I made a Guess the number game in Python

This is a pretty poor title, but the OP isn't to blame for this.
As you can see the title almost definitely started off without the "I made a" section as "Guess" starts with a capital "G".

When I tried to change the title to something more sensible the system wouldn't allow me! All the following are already taken.

  • Number guessing game

  • Guess the number game

  • Number guessing game in Python

  • Guess the number game in Python

According to metameta we shouldn't have tags in titles so the latter two are 'bad' titles anyway, but having to prepend something expected of all Code Review questions "I made this" is horrendous - and not on the OP's part.


We allow duplicate questions, so allowing duplicate titles just makes sense.

\$\endgroup\$
6
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ Related: Does preventing exact duplicate titles makes sense here? \$\endgroup\$
    – Mast Mod
    Commented Mar 28, 2020 at 16:19
  • \$\begingroup\$ On one hand I'm all for unique titles. If we allow duplicates, things will inevitably get messy. People may even 'steal' the title of a popular question that's already posted and all kinds of minor nuisances will pop-up. And I'm not sure SE allows duplicate titles anywhere, so who knows whether there's support on the platform itself. On the other hand, we don't have much of a choice, do we? We have 935 linked-list questions, we must be running out of titles eventually. \$\endgroup\$
    – Mast Mod
    Commented Mar 28, 2020 at 16:23
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ Related: Prompt for more meaningful question titles \$\endgroup\$
    – Mast Mod
    Commented Mar 28, 2020 at 16:29
  • \$\begingroup\$ Does this answer your question? Does preventing exact duplicate titles makes sense here? (P.S. This comment was added because I voted to close as a duplicate). \$\endgroup\$
    – rolfl
    Commented Mar 30, 2020 at 18:46
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ @rolfl 5 years have passed. While the point in your answer still stands ("If we allow 2, we allow 200 duplicates."), keeping the current course for another 10 years doesn't seem feasible. The alternative is refusing questions which are about challenges that have been solved too often because all the titles are taken. Not necessarily a bad thing, but that would need community-support just as well. \$\endgroup\$
    – Mast Mod
    Commented Apr 1, 2020 at 10:05
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ @rolfl Similar if not the same question, however no. The score on your answer which I previously upvoted, now paints an incorrect story. The answer's score is inflated by at least one, unalterable, vote. And so it's incorrectly showing more support than your answer now has. Closing as a duplicate will only indicate that the old way is always right. And even with the knowledge gained over time, we can't seek to rectify mistakes we made as a community. \$\endgroup\$
    – Peilonrayz Mod
    Commented Apr 1, 2020 at 12:43

0

You must log in to answer this question.

Browse other questions tagged .