I've noticed as of late that quite a few of the titles of the questions I encounter start with "How to" and end without a question mark. This makes questions seem less like questions and more like answers. Editing can fix some, but there are too many. It really bothers me. Am I the only one? Should we do something?
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Do you mean in the title?– user106385Aug 19, 2015 at 23:07
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@Timelord64, Yes, and I edited it into the question– Rainbow DashAug 19, 2015 at 23:20
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My understanding is that a title does not necissarily need to host a question. They often do, as a point of summarising the body, but it is not a requirement. The only place that should deliberetly have a question is the body.– user106385Aug 19, 2015 at 23:52
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8@Timelord64 - whilst not required, it's recommended that a title be the actual question you're asking. As for the 'How to' argument, the 'to' is probably not the correct wording, a closer approximation would be 'How do I..', 'How do you..' or 'How does one..'. Having said that I don't think its a distinction that needs to be made nor should we action it based on the odd wording alone: change it only if youre making other, more pressing edits (such as spelling/grammar/paragraphing etc)– Robotnik ModAug 20, 2015 at 0:03
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2 Answers
Nah.
As Robotnik has stated in the comments, doing something like removing "How to..." from the question title would just be completely pointless.
However, I do believe titles should be clearer. The way I see it, the title of a question is a signpost leading to the actual question. The information on said signpost should be clear to understand so that there is no confusion about the destination.
What you're suggesting specifically, however, is not a major difference. Having a minor change like this being done is nothing that makes a large difference. It's just being pedantic.
There are more important things to be changed than two words in a question title.
Yes. We should edit the titles to be clearer and simpler.
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While I absolutely agree that we should do that, I fail to see how that is an answer to this question, which is asking if question titles need to be actual questions.– MrLemonAug 22, 2015 at 16:06
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@MrLemon actually, the question was whether we should do something about them not being questions.– shanodinAug 22, 2015 at 19:11
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While I agree, the question is simply asking if we should do something, you need a bit more argument then "Yes, they should be clear, and simple"– user106385Aug 23, 2015 at 17:41