Original title: “Why We Spiral”; mangled by HN to the incomprehensible “We Spiral”.

airstrike 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

FYI HN does edit out the "Why", but OP can go in and modify the title after submitting.

Maybe HN needs an "if num_words > 3" before the "delete leading Why". Or maybe an "if char_count > CHAR_LIMIT" before the "delete leading Why".

Or just don't. What a near guaranteed way to mangle the meaning of a title.

	▲	pinkmuffinere a day ago \| parent [-]
		90% of the time it works and you don’t notice the system because you only see the good result. This is the rare event when it breaks and you do notice.

isoprophlex 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

That makes one wonder what happens if one was to submit a story titled "Why"

	▲	layer8 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		It remains as “Why”. Same for “Why not?”. Maybe it needs at least three words. Though “Why why why“ also isn’t changed. Apologies to anyone who came across my experiments.

I found the shortened one accurate and also thought provoking

	▲	chrisweekly 2 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		I think the shortened title is actually better; the essay doesn't go deep into "why", it's more a set of observations illustrating that we do in fact spiral.
	▲	MarkLowenstein 2 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		I figured it was going to be about WeWork circling the drain. Thankfully it wasn't.