Ask HN: Why post titles are created as a question?
2 comments
Your post title is not a question, it is a title with a question mark at the end.
Just because you are not expecting an answer doesn't mean you don't deserve one....you did ask a question.
Questions also change brain chemistry.
The person asking the questions is in control of direction of the conversation.
I think the questions that you are speaking of are the type meant to lure you in like "Is DDR4 really faster than DDR3?" and then you read a content marketing article from a DDR4 manufacturer.
To help people find the content.
They go to google “how do I fix blah” then a post titled “how do I fix blah” appears and they click it and their blah is sorted
They go to google “how do I fix blah” then a post titled “how do I fix blah” appears and they click it and their blah is sorted
If you think about it there is no reason for a title of an article to be a question. A question is typically directed toward a person who can answer that question. If a question is asked without the expectation of an answer why is it in the form of a question? (I just did that here by the way.) To raise curiosity could be one reason, but there is no one having a dialog so it seems wrong to me that a question is asked when in fact an assertion should be made.
Part of the reason I believe for why this is happening is because it may be fashionable to pose a question instead of making an assertion because it's indicative of not making assumptions and having an open mind. However, articles do make assumptions constantly and are in fact loaded with biases both unintentionally and on purpose. They try to persuade us by highlighting the information that is supportive of their final conclusion and omitting others that are not so much.
Finally the reasons may not be so nefarious as the picture I painted above, but perhaps at best just laziness.
Please let me know if this is what you think too or why I'm making a mistake.