“Titles form a human-useable namespace. Large-scale information systems that can be used effectively by humans require exactly such a namespace. It’s hard to write titles at all, never mind write them well. That’s why even when required (as in email’s Subject: header) titles are rarely as helpful as they ought to be. Will this change in blogspace? Maybe no. But then again, maybe yes. In an environment where pageviews and channel fetches are visible and ranked, Darwinian forces may tend to favor the fittest information sources. Clean structure isn’t the only measure of fitness, but it’s an important one.”
i’m not sure i’d go as far as jon does with the “fittest information sources” metaphor, but i do know that now that since i put together a syndication feed which basically clips the first sentence or two from a post [ compensating for blogger’s lack of “title” capabilities when in started syndication ] , i spend a bit more time formulating the first sentence for a “hook”. probably sounds a bit cheesy and certainly doesn’t always work, but it’s almost an unconscious tendency.