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Recently, on new Code Review questions, I've been seeing this:

Welcome to Code Review! As we all want to make our code more efficient or improve it in one way or another, try to write a title that summarizes what your code does, not what you want to get out of a review. For examples of good titles, check out Best of Code Review 2014 - Best Question Title Category You may also want to read How to get the best value out of Code Review - Asking Questions.

I've seen this exact message multiple times, so I figure there is a meta somewhere, where you can copy this message.

However, I do not think that it is a idea to reference to the "Best of Code Review 2014 Best Question Title" meta.

By showing this to the new user, they could get in the habit of posting titles that, while they are interesting, they do not always tell a lot about the code or the post itself.

I think it would be better to just leave a note saying that the user's post's title should only be the function/purpose of their code. Then, as that user is more active on the site, they will begin to notice these posts with "special titles" and they might start to follow them.

It would be better for users to follow these titles later and write normal titles first because they learn good practices on this site earlier, and will be less likely to be poorly influenced by these "special titles" later.

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    \$\begingroup\$ The frequent comment comes from here: meta.codereview.stackexchange.com/a/4957/31562 . Feel free to comment on any frequent comments that you feel can be improved. \$\endgroup\$
    – Simon Forsberg
    Commented Jul 20, 2015 at 15:25
  • \$\begingroup\$ @SimonAndréForsberg Should I delete this meta and post my concern over there, or should I leave a link on that meta to this meta (which has my concern). \$\endgroup\$
    – SirPython
    Commented Jul 20, 2015 at 15:26
  • \$\begingroup\$ My personal opinion is that comments about comments should be given to the people who posts the comments, I have a feeling that at least 75% of the people who will see this meta question aren't really affected by it. As long as there's not a meta question posted for each and every time there's a suggestion for a frequently posted comment, I guess this one is OK. But consider talking to the user(s) who post the comment first before taking it to meta. (Although I might not be the best person to ask about this as I myself use that comment fairly often). \$\endgroup\$
    – Simon Forsberg
    Commented Jul 20, 2015 at 15:43
  • \$\begingroup\$ @SimonAndréForsberg Thanks for tip. I posted my concerns here because I had seen it posted by a multitude of users already, and I figured it was time for a meta. From now on, I will just tell the user my concern when I see that comment. \$\endgroup\$
    – SirPython
    Commented Jul 20, 2015 at 15:45

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In a way, I don't think it's possible to specify a "site-policy" about this. It is up to each user to post comments as they wish, and up to each user to improve their comments as they wish.

This one comes directly from a collection of Frequently Posted Comments for users of the Auto-Comments script, as such it is several users that already uses the comment. But there's also a whole bunch of users that do not uses this as a frequently posted comment, or uses another variation of this.

Now onto the discussion itself:

By showing this to the new user, they could get in the habit of posting titles that, while they are interesting, they do not always tell a lot about the code or the post itself.

This feels to me like a "What if..." scenario. Is it a problem today with interesting but not entirely accurate titles? In my opinion, no.

The "Best of CR titles" post(s) are meant for inspiration, and I find that many of them are relevant to what the code does.

The titles that the comment primarily want to avoid are titles like "How can I simplify this code?" or "Coding practice in Java". Compared to these, I find the ones provided in the "Best of Code Review" posts a lot better.

The auto-comment is related to How to get the best value out of Code Review - Asking Questions - Title, but is intended to provide a suggestion that fits in a comment

Can the comment be improved? Always.

Will the comment ever be perfect? Never.

Also remember that comments are "second-class citizens" on Stack Exchange sites.

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