> I thought that HN had a policy where the titles used are taken verbatim from the page being linked to, unless they're so completely terrible that an alternative title is needed.
"Please don't do things to make titles stand out, like using uppercase or exclamation points, or adding a parenthetical remark saying how great an article is. It's implicit in submitting something that you think it's important.
...
Otherwise please use the original title, unless it is misleading or linkbait."
It seems that's the intent expressed in the HN Guidelines (https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html):
"Please don't do things to make titles stand out, like using uppercase or exclamation points, or adding a parenthetical remark saying how great an article is. It's implicit in submitting something that you think it's important. ... Otherwise please use the original title, unless it is misleading or linkbait."