2012-07-09

If there's one thing that reading gaming forums -- or any forum, for that matter -- provides is that there's often very little thought about thread titles. Making the title clear and saying a little something of what the reader will find once they click on the link is important but too few people actually take the time to formulate a single line to sum up what they hope to discuss in the forum. Or worse, pose a question that can be answered with a single word.

It also annoys me to see questions that anyone able to type could peck into a search engine and have an answer *SNAP* now.

I could shoot these barrel-imprisoned fish all day, but here are a few examples of what I'm writing about:

Who is your favourite gaming companion?

Misleading. My favourite gaming companion is a loaded .45 (ol' Betsy) and an open bottle of rum (Captain Morgan) but that's not what the poster is asking. It should read: Who is your favourite in-game companion?

Sexiest console ever created?

Besides being incorrectly phrased -- it should be, "What is the sexiest console ever created?" -- the original question is creepy. "Sexiest" conjures images of curvy models or muscled men draping themselves on cars or bits of landscape or holding shock absorbers. It's also a bad question to pose because "console" can be replaced with anything. Stapler, plant, paper shredder, gum, potato chip, etc. Pick a noun and drop it in. It works! But it's probably just as creepy as considering a console "sexy."

What are the worst songs by good bands?

Generic. Why not just ask, "What kind of pickles do you like?"

Posts marked with "LTTP" - Late to the Party

Then why are you bothering? If one is late to a party -- days and even years in some cases -- you wouldn't expect the host to welcome you in with anything but a look of disdain and/or confusion and possibly the barrel of a shotgun depending on how drunk you were when you showed up on the guy's front lawn. But for some reason it's perfectly acceptable to mark forum threads with LTTP. If you're LTTP, a thread for the topic probably already exists. Dig that up instead.

I'll add to this list as I come across lacking forum thread titles.

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