I think the sanitisation of the headline is in keeping with the spirit of the following guidelines:
If the original title begins with a number or number + gratuitous adjective, we'd appreciate it if you'd crop it. E.g. translate "10 Ways To Do X" to "How To Do X," and "14 Amazing Ys" to "Ys." Exception: when the number is meaningful, e.g. "The 5 Platonic Solids."
Otherwise please use the original title, unless it is misleading or linkbait.
Furthermore, the full title as displayed on the article "SSRN sold to Elsevier: From open access to the worst legacy publisher" is actually a main title and subtitle, as noted by the colon separating them.
It's quite common on HN for the subtitle to not be included in the submission's title, or for it to be used instead of the main title.
I think the sanitisation of the headline is in keeping with the spirit of the following guidelines:
Yep, it's just not consistent with the actual observed practices here. In reality, if a submitter "fixes" a bad headline, it almost always gets reverted to the exact title of the original post, no more, no less. But on this occasion, somebody submitted the exact original headline, and it got "sanitized" for no apparent reason.
The frustrating part isn't the guideline, it's the inconsistent application of the guideline.
If the original title begins with a number or number + gratuitous adjective, we'd appreciate it if you'd crop it. E.g. translate "10 Ways To Do X" to "How To Do X," and "14 Amazing Ys" to "Ys." Exception: when the number is meaningful, e.g. "The 5 Platonic Solids."
Otherwise please use the original title, unless it is misleading or linkbait.
Furthermore, the full title as displayed on the article "SSRN sold to Elsevier: From open access to the worst legacy publisher" is actually a main title and subtitle, as noted by the colon separating them.
It's quite common on HN for the subtitle to not be included in the submission's title, or for it to be used instead of the main title.