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And HN's War On Headlines continues, changing the headline from the one used in the article ("This Weapons Designer Was a Real Life Man of Mystery") to something that completely obscures one big reason why this story is interesting, namely how much secrecy still surrounds the man and his work ten years after his death.

I know HN regards "clickbait" the way ISIS regards shaving, but replacing headlines with alternatives that make the story sound so boring nobody would ever in a million years click on it is not an improvement.



This title is way better. Designer + Man of Mystery are completely vague. His name, + his role, + his organization drew me to the headline.

I like guns. I like mystery. The CIA is inherently mysterious.

It has the opposite effect for me, the more ambiguous, the less likely I am to click it for fear of time wasted.


Also, I was thinking that the article would be about Gerald Bull [1], of Project Babylon [2] (Saddam's supergun) fame.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Bull [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Babylon


Exactly. There should be no foul play in the headline. Purely descriptive. The writing itself is what is supposed to draw you in or repel you.


A better way to make a comment like this is to suggest a title that conforms to the HN guidelines (i.e. is neither linkbait nor misleading) and does better than the one currently up. It isn't easy to get this right every time, so we appreciate it every time someone in the community figures out a better one.

But junking the guidelines, which is what keeping that ridiculously baity title would amount to, is not an option. They've been this way for years and serve HN well, despite the imperfections of those trying to uphold them.




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