Title and quality [LWN.net]

Title and quality

Posted Sep 2, 2026 14:35 UTC (Wed) by 0x3333 (subscriber, #158599)
Parent article: A note on subscription prices from LWN

First, please change the title to "Price Increase." Some of us aren't that young anymore—our hearts can't handle the possibility of an LWN shutdown. LOL.

The price is totally in line with the quality you guys deliver. Go for it.

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Title and quality

Posted Sep 2, 2026 14:39 UTC (Wed) by corbet (editor, #1) [Link] (6 responses)

It took a while, but I tweaked the title. It honestly never occurred to me that people would read it that way!

Thanks (to all of you) for the nice words...

Title and quality

Posted Sep 2, 2026 15:22 UTC (Wed) by chris_se (subscriber, #99706) [Link] (1 responses)

> It honestly never occurred to me that people would read it that way!

I read it similarly, not as far as "we're going to shut down completely", but my initial reading was along the lines of "there's something unfortunate that's going on we have to tell you all". Then I read the article and thought "oh good, it's just a modest price increase, nothing bad is happening" and my heart rate went right back down. :-)

Title and quality

Posted Sep 2, 2026 23:20 UTC (Wed) by nix (subscriber, #2304) [Link]

I went into panic mode because I was worried it was something horribly medical: none of us are getting any younger. Glad to hear it's not!

Title and quality

Posted Sep 2, 2026 19:10 UTC (Wed) by 0x3333 (subscriber, #158599) [Link]

> It honestly never occurred to me that people would read it that way!

Take this as a compliment on your hard work.

Title and quality

Posted Sep 2, 2026 22:47 UTC (Wed) by tialaramex (subscriber, #21167) [Link]

The Smarties Test makes it seem as though Theory of Mind is pretty binary - your toddler doesn't "get it" but your school kid does - but in reality it's not easy to remember that although the other humans are people "like" you they aren't as much "like" you as all that. You will always know things they do not and vice versa. This makes title writing all the trickier because to you the title is redundant - you already know the entire content, it doesn't need a title.

The new title is much better, thanks. And, of course, thanks for years of service, we haven't always agreed about everything but you've done a great job.

Title and quality

Posted Sep 3, 2026 18:15 UTC (Thu) by ecm (subscriber, #129897) [Link] (1 responses)

The title now reads "A note on subscription prices from LWN", but I don't see a way to find out what it read before this change. Care to share it with us latecomers?

Also I agree that I happily pay for my LWN subscription, and will foot the increased fees the next time it runs out.

Title and quality

Posted Sep 3, 2026 18:20 UTC (Thu) by daroc (editor, #160859) [Link]

Previously, it just read "A note from LWN". I didn't see a problem with that title either, but it makes sense that a more informative one would be better.