Users able to edit thread titles - yay or nay?

Hi, all.

I am debating a question with the other Community managers in my organization: would you edit a thread's title to help with SEO?

Some think that, in the case of popular threads, we should go ahead and edit the thread title created by the user if it's not search engine-friendly. One person even suggested editing the first three lines.

My opinion is that this is very bad form. But I lack references, articles to tell them "look, I'm not the only one who thinks this".

What do you think?

 

I allow edit a thread title if it doesn't make sense and I feel it'll be to be worded differently. SEO seems to pick up the content inside the thread, but a good title always reflects a good topic. I don't mind editing a thread title to be more clearer,

 

If it didn't make sense, I'd edit the title. But I wouldn't edit it just to help with SEO, that's not really the point of running a forum and it seems off to do that.

 

I edit thread titles for a few reasons. Misspelling is a big one. Misleading or inaccurate titles is another. Titles that don't indicate the content is one. On sports forums a lot of members like to title threads like this: "RGIII!" or "Should We Get Him?" A person can't tell the content from those titles. Sometimes members title a thread something like "ESPN Insider Says ..." and I have to change it because we aren't ESPN and can't legally publish their material. Then I also have to make sure the content isn't stolen. Insofar as SEO is concerned, use tags. They work.

 

I've edited thread titles a few times for SEO purposes. I don't see anything wrong with it.

 

- Check this out
- Wow, I never knew this
- Should I?
- Can I do this?
- Would you buy this?

All of those are absolutely USELESS titles that will NEVER rank so of course you should change them. If you don't know EXACTLY what to expect in a post by the title then it's a bad title, change at will.

 

Thank you for putting my thoughts into words

I would, however, make sure to ask the OP if he's okay with me changing the title. You don't want to have an angry member on your site saying there's no freedom of speech and that I'm a fascist pig.

 

This is great advice. Thank you all for your replies!

 

This.

Also, bigbigfan's list falls into the same category.

I will edit them if it's not obvious what the thread is about and in turn, that's going to help with SEO. I wouldn't edit most thread titles, though.

 

Hah, you know you're doing a good job editing thread titles when nobody notices. If people start noticing you're being a little to aggressive most likely and will earn the name "title police" or worse.

Moderating and making changes is your job as owner but like a bouncer at a show it's best that you know they are there without seeing them too often, you're there for the show, not the muscle.

 

I do that some times..but not everytime a user makes a mistake or things get popular

 

I allow 48 hours for my users to edit there Thread Title, this goes as well with the post. If any of my users are require a extended time length on there editing privileges, one can contact a Moderator to help them gain this. One great example is well detailed tutorials.

 

I'm pretty sure this was asked before, I'll do some searching.

*found and merged*