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Of course the title of this question is intended as an example of the problem I am trying to raise.

I just answered a question (I should not have) that has the title: Every infinite recursive language contains an infinite regular subset

Of course, this statement is wrong. But the site is read by a lot of student who may see this title and remember it without further investigation ... until they use it in a proof with the consequences one might expect (hoping it is not in a job interview).

So I think we should systematically modify titles that seem to be asserting something that is wrong. ... mine excepted, of course. And possibly warn users against doing that (though no one would remember such a rule).

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    $\begingroup$ I don't think it hurts to edit titles so that they don't contain wrong statements. After all, we should try to improve on every aspect of a question. But I think it's also the case that no matter how hard you try, and no matter how good your intentions are, there is always someone who misunderstand, interprets wrong, reaches wrong conclusions, ... $\endgroup$
    – Juho
    May 20, 2015 at 18:32
  • $\begingroup$ A recent example, by the way. (Click on the edit history to see the original title). I was probably conscious enough to edit the title because of this meta post, so thanks! $\endgroup$
    – Juho
    Jun 2, 2015 at 19:39
  • $\begingroup$ @Juho That happens, in good faith... glad it is useful. (though the topic is beyond me). $\endgroup$
    – babou
    Jun 2, 2015 at 19:50

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I agree. This is one case where turning the title into a question is often best.

Titles should lead with the most important words, so question words and phrases (like “How do I prove”) at the beginning of a title are best avoided. But yes/no questions don't have this problem, this is a fine title as the word “does” isn't long enough to shadow the rest:

Does every infinite recursive language contain an infinite regular subset?

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