That's great and all, but in a newsroom, when the editor changes your title, the...

amerika_blog · on Dec 2, 2013

> That's great and all, but in a newsroom, when the editor changes your title, they tell you why so you can do better next time.

I agree that would be nice. However, as you know from running a busy site, it's not always possible to give such feedback, or you'd drown under emails. I'm thinking of /r/redditrequest or any of the methods of reporting things like doxxing to the mods, which usually don't get any feedback for the user.

My interest is this: I think content needs to be edited for maximal reading potential. That in turn leads to the question as to whether Reddit/HN are more like links lists (MetaFilter, blogs) or more like discussion forums (phpBB, vbulletin, etc). By "more like" I mean as communities, not as software.

jedberg · on Dec 3, 2013

You know how we avoided this problem at reddit? We didn't edit the user's submissions. :)

amerika_blog · on Dec 4, 2013

I understand, but for devil's advocacy sake, that leads to other problems for the content reader, such as:

* Duplicates. Endless duplicates.

* Rejection of good content because the headline is bad.

* Essentially outsourcing this function to subreddit mods, who have only rejection at hand.

If someone mods a subreddit, and they see a submission that's perfect except the person misspelled "intimacy" in the title, they have two options only:

* Accept it as it is.

* Reject/delete it and get the user to submit again.

There's a bit of high overhead there, and less of a powerful experience for the reader. I think that matters less with Reddit's mostly 15-25 audience but is more important here.

tommo123 · on Dec 2, 2013

That's not true at all. What newsroom did you work in that had journalists writing their own titles and expecting even a modicum of influence over the final product once it has been handed in?

jedberg · on Dec 2, 2013

I sat next to the Wired newsroom for a few years, and they certainly did it.

rhizome · on Dec 2, 2013

Doesn't history tell us that it's very common for reporters not to write their own headlines?

glifchits · on Dec 2, 2013

Getting feedback on your work is not the same as having influence over it.

bennyg · on Dec 2, 2013

A good editor will do that. It's about teaching and preparing journalists to be great.

mparr4 · on Dec 2, 2013

I work in a newsroom, albeit a small one--a public radio station--and we do that.

I also have the freedom to tell my bosses "no" so I expect my newsroom is probably in the minority.

Interesting side note: We're growing in a small market (Vermont) at a time when most newsrooms are shrinking or even collapsing, especially the small markets. Sure, correlation is not causation, but I would argue that the culture plays no small part in our success.