<h2>Is <code>problem</code> really meaningful or necessary in the title?</h2> <p>What I expect from a title is that it clearly tells me what problem the user is experiencing, and <em>only that</em>.</p> <p>I care whether you have BSOD 0xED or 0x124 and their name, but I certainly not care about error messages, descriptions or similar specific details in the title. Looking at your example</p> <blockquote> <p>there is a problem with the Office database</p> </blockquote> <p><em>doesn't significantly mean anything</em>, because it doesn't clearly tell me about the underlying problem.</p> <p>A title that would literally copy an error message is just <em>lazyness</em>, you don't want titles to be like...</p> <blockquote> <p>The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first?</p> </blockquote> <p>But rather have a guiding title like</p> <blockquote> <p>How can I troubleshoot my TDR crash that occurs while watching video streams?</p> </blockquote> <hr> <h2>Is <code>problem</code> really meaningful or necessary in your example?</h2> <p>Looking at your specific question, I see the following things:</p> <ul> <li><p>A restore has happened (with TimeMachine)</p></li> <li><p>Permission problems are related.</p></li> <li><p>The database doesn't appear to load.</p></li> </ul> <p>These details result in better alternatives for a title:</p> <ul> <li><p><strong>How do I fix my Office database after restoring a back-up?</strong></p></li> <li><p><strong>Why does Office report database and permission errors after a restore?</strong></p></li> </ul> <p>These are more helpful for people scanning the question list and looking for something to answer.</p> <p>As for search engine purposes, the question body is indexed too so that's not really an issue...</p> <hr> <h2>Are titles containing <code>problem</code> meaningless on Super User?</h2> <p>Putting your example aside, in general these titles containing <code>problem</code> are meaningless:</p> <ul> <li><p>Can you solve my problem with my computer?</p></li> <li><p>Why does my browser have a problem with visiting Stack Exchange?</p></li> <li><p>Please help me with my slow computer problem?</p></li> </ul> <p>Also note that <code>I have a problem...</code> is a quite commonly used forum title suffix.</p> <p>Think of <a href="https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Martin_Luther_King,_Jr." rel="nofollow">MLK</a> saying "<em>I have a dream...</em>". Then question yourself "<em>What dream? How can I help?</em>"</p> <p>As Jeff Atwood has <a href="http://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/101935/can-the-ask-question-page-be-changed-to-obtain-better-quality-questions/102150#102150">shown me once</a>; please <strong><a href="http://superuser.com/posts/328432/revisions">don't make me read</a></strong> unnecessary text. <a href="http://meta.stackexchange.com/q/2950/145350">Thanks</a>.</p> <hr> <h2>Where there legitimate uses of "Problem" on Super User in the past?</h2> <p>Check out <a href="http://superuser.com/search?q=title%3Aproblem">this search query</a> and <a href="http://superuser.com/search?q=user%3A13567+title%3Aproblem">this search query</a>. How good I am trying to look there, I don't see any legitimate uses of Problem there. Please note that Reputation, even in the 1st query, doesn't matter. </p> <hr> <h2>Here is a solution based on a "low quality" suggestion:</h2> <p>The proper solution is to add a hidden <code>hasBeenFiltered</code> field to the Ask Question page that gets enabled when a filtered word has been tried; which automatically gets the word on the low quality page, that tells on the low quality page what filter triggered. We keep the filter and perhaps add <code>issue</code>. That way, we don't have to edit <code>problem</code> or <code>issue</code> out ourselves in the case of better titles.</p> <p>This way, it still gets filtered and we get to review them to handle the bad cases.</p> <p>While <a href="http://stackoverflow.com/search?tab=newest&q=title%3aproblem">Stack Overflow</a> and <a href="http://math.stackexchange.com/questions/78949">Math.SE</a> don't have this filter in place, this filter is a necessity on other SE sites as they don't have programming or mathematical problems. I doubt if Programmers.SE is an exception...</p>