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At the time of this question, the word 'problem' is disallowed as a title word in StackOverflow. Some problems have been mentioned about it, ex. here.

This is a question about accepted/acceptable workarounds for what I think are legitimate questions, rather than a feature abolition request (because there are plenty of them out there and they seem to be having little effect).

So let's say I have a question that revolves primarily around the halting problem as it applies to some tool I'm using. Is there some expected way to mention 'halting problem' in the title? Are there accepted workarounds to the filtering behavior for the phrase 'halting problem'? If so, what?

EDIT: I should mention that this question is related to, but not the same as, this one. Again, I'm specifically wondering about how to go about writing the title for this category of question, not simply injecting the word 'problem' into its title.

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  • That entirely depends on what your actual question is. If the halting problem is a mere demonstration in the larger problem you face with a tool, a title might not need to mention the halting problem at all. Then again, there are no problems. There are only issues. ;) – Bart Aug 8 '13 at 20:50
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    While I hesitate to suggest this, you seem to have a legitimate use for it. Try inserting a zero-width space into the word "problem". – Mysticial Aug 8 '13 at 20:50
  • @Mysticial Wow. I didn't even know that existed. Is that kosher to use, though...? – user Aug 8 '13 at 21:06
  • I dunno. Which is why I was "hesitant". It is after all, a very in-your-face way to circumventing a filter. – Mysticial Aug 8 '13 at 21:08
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    @Mysticial That's a bad idea: it won't be picked up by search engines. Atash: your question may be more on-topic on Computer Science anyway (and the word “problem” isn't blacklisted there). Is this something that readers can understand without knowing the tool? – Gilles Aug 8 '13 at 21:17
  • @Mysticial - because there wasn't anything going on like that at all when the "minimum characters" for a comment was established? – AnonJr Aug 8 '13 at 21:39
  • Yes​​​​​​​​​​​​ – Mysticial Aug 8 '13 at 21:41
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    I've just posted this feature request that would make your problems go away if implemented: meta.stackexchange.com/questions/192529/… – Mark Amery Aug 8 '13 at 21:57
  • @Gilles No, the tool is necessary context - it's the halting problem as it applies to the tool. Specifically it's asking about CTFE in a particular compiler with regards to how it doesn't bang its head on the halting problem (so that I may then take full advantage of CTFE and know when it doesn't/can't apply with that compiler). – user Aug 9 '13 at 1:40
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    @Atash Ok, then you can probably work around the filter by using something like something like “termination” in your title. – Gilles Aug 9 '13 at 1:44
  • Just call it the halting probIem. (probIem) (</sarcasm>) – Aza Aug 9 '13 at 8:24
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    @Bart, then clearly the solution is to call it the "Halting Issue". – Ben Lee Aug 16 '13 at 17:10
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    @BenLee I'll start the process to revise all literature. – Bart Aug 16 '13 at 17:15

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