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Recently, I've posted a question with ... (three dots in a row) at the end of the question title. To my surprise, it was removed. I tried re-editing it into it, but it just got removed again.

Editing screen

Trying to edit in ...

it doesn't show up in the title

Result: No ... in question title

What and why exactly is preventing me from typing ... at the end of a question title?

Update

Apparently, using <space>... works. The ellipsis character works fine.

ellipsis char

For reference, the site I was trying to post this on was Programming Puzzles & Code Golf, where my question/challenge was perfectly clear and valid, and the faux-ellipsis was used for decorative effect.

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  • 1
    Why would you want to? How would it help your question be clearer or easier to find? Commented Dec 25, 2016 at 11:49
  • 1
    There's a system in place to automatically 'correct' low quality titles. The details should be somewhere here on Meta. Commented Dec 25, 2016 at 12:07
  • @Glorfindel I'd gladly mark this as duplicate if I could get the post you mean? Commented Dec 25, 2016 at 13:05
  • I couldn't find it, but I'm on mobile so it was hard to search. May give it a try later today. Commented Dec 25, 2016 at 13:06
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    Looks like you can end a question title with an ellipsis character … at least on MSE. See edit history of this question. Commented Dec 25, 2016 at 13:07
  • I think a question title should always end in a question mark. Commented Dec 25, 2016 at 13:33
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    @PolyGeo The site he/she is trying to post to is code golf. The "questions" there are more challenges than actual questions AFAIK. Commented Dec 25, 2016 at 13:37
  • @MartinSmith there was no mention of Code Golf in the question body so the involvement of that atypical site was only discernible by following a link which I didn't. Commented Dec 25, 2016 at 13:52
  • Regarding your edit it is nothing to do with the space, the ellipsis character is a single character. This is different from typing three dots. Commented Dec 25, 2016 at 14:03
  • @MartinSmith Aplologies, I thought it was three dots. Commented Dec 25, 2016 at 14:05
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    @PolyGeo, a question can be a "bug". Commented Dec 25, 2016 at 15:07
  • @alldani I'm yet to see a "bug" that cannot be titled in the form of a question. Commented Dec 25, 2016 at 20:06
  • It probably always can, I'm saying at times it works without too. Commented Dec 26, 2016 at 10:31

1 Answer 1

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In 2011, somebody brought this up on this site for the first time that I can find.

This answer says:

The logic for trailing punctuation re-writing becomes.

  • Multiple ? collapsed into one
  • Multiple . collapsed into one
  • ?! and similar collapsed into ?
  • Spaces before trailing punctuation removed (with one exception)
  • Everywhere but the trilogy, multiple ! collapsed in one

Your question title seems to fall under rule #2: "multiple '.' collapsed into one". If you want to disable this for the whole site of Code Golf SE, you should probably make a feature request for that.

Note the exception referenced in "trailing punctuation removed" is French Stack Exchange, for which that rule was disabled. That was because French grammar required/preferred the extra space before the punctuation.

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  • Most likely a combination of the 2nd and 4th rule. I'm honestly not sure about that, it's probably an undocumented removal of <space>. or something. Commented Dec 25, 2016 at 14:42
  • There is at least one missing rule. If the title ends in "etc." it will incorrectly be replaced by "etc" Commented Dec 26, 2016 at 14:18
  • @PeterMortensen yeah, OP had a now deleted comment about that. My best guess is that it's a combination of the 2nd and 4th rules. Commented Dec 26, 2016 at 15:21

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