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Question Titles - Which Words to Capitalize?

Asked Apr 22, 2010, 09:38 PM — 12 Answers
Hi, All!

My title is a good point in question. I think that the titles to questions just look neater, more formal, have a flow and also have some sense of flair and dignity to them if certain words are capitalized at the beginning of them and others are not.

What do you think, please? Or, am I just totally off-base here?

Thanks!

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12 Answers
sabrewolfe's Avatar
sabrewolfe Posts: 420, Reputation: 507
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#2

Apr 22, 2010, 10:05 PM
I totally agree with you Clough.
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Clough's Avatar
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#3

Apr 22, 2010, 10:30 PM
Hey thanks, sabrewolfe!
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Wondergirl's Avatar
Wondergirl Posts: 31,353, Reputation: 24138
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#4

Apr 23, 2010, 04:58 PM


I'm thinking that, if the words are spelled correctly and it's not in chat-speak, the title is fine, even if there are no words capped.
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Clough's Avatar
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#5

Apr 23, 2010, 05:42 PM
Then it would appear to be a matter of personal choice and preference. There is no set standard?
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Wondergirl's Avatar
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#6

Apr 23, 2010, 05:50 PM


There is no standard for this site. It depends on a company's or organization's style guide. Librarians have a style book that tells them to type titles with only the first words and any proper nouns capitalized; all others are lowercase. Catalog cards used to be this way, and now titles in library databases are this way.

Thus, in the card catalog or library database, it would be A tale of two cities, not A Tale of Two Cities.
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Clough's Avatar
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#7

Apr 23, 2010, 05:55 PM
I do prefer the latter, Wondergirl. Plus, my original question was meant to be in general and not necessarily specific to this site. I do apologize if I was unclear about that.

Also, I do realize that there is no standard for this site, other than no chat-speak and it would really help if the words are all spelled correctly. However, since this is an international site, I guess that it would be okay to tolerate some misspelled words in a title.
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Wondergirl's Avatar
Wondergirl Posts: 31,353, Reputation: 24138
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#8

Apr 23, 2010, 05:58 PM


Quote:
Originally Posted by Clough View Post
I do prefer the latter, Wondergirl.
I prefer the former, plus it's less work by not having to press the Shift key now and then. It comes down to checking if there is a style guide that must be followed.
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Alty's Avatar
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#9

Apr 23, 2010, 06:06 PM
As long as I can read and understand a post, or title, I really don't care if the proper words are capitalized. Never judge a post by it's title.

Many frequent posters can't be bothered with capitals. Their posts are no less worthy because of it. In fact, some of the brightest, most informative people on this site don't capitalize anything.

For me spacing is much more important. I hate it when a post is just one long paragraph. It makes the post very hard to read and I usually don't bother.
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Wondergirl's Avatar
Wondergirl Posts: 31,353, Reputation: 24138
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#10

Apr 23, 2010, 06:08 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Clough View Post
However, since this is an international site, I guess that it would be okay to tolerate some misspelled words in a title.
Some of our biggest misspellers are people who live in the U.S.
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