When I was a young man in Scranton, I had a friend who used the phrase “I don’t mean that in a bad way” to give himself permission to say horrible things. For example,
“I saw that painting your sister made and it just doesn’t do anything for me. It needs a lot of work. Of course, I don’t mean that in a bad way.”
I see something similar in the blogoshhpere and it makes me nuts. Specifically, there’s an unwritten rule that says you can write anything you want in a headline as long as it ends with a question mark. For example:
“New iPhone made in Korea, will feature 1024×768 display?”*
When I see this headline in a feed reader, I’ll quickly glance at it, sometimes missing the punctuation. Plus, it’s not even written as a question.
“Will new iPhones be made in Korea, feature an improved display?”
Instead, it’s a statement with a question marked tacked on. It looks like you’re stating a fact. Here’s my request. Preface the title of rumor posts with “Rumor:” (MacDailyNews does it).
“Rumor: New iPhones be made in Korea, feature an improved display”
Better yet, don’t write them.
*I made that one up. Here’s a real example.
[...] quite funny, tendency in the blogosphere I should be aware of after reading David Caolo’s blog post. He points out that many people believe they can write whatever they want in a blog post headline, [...]