I think a moderator was probably trying to rein in the sensationalism. Obviously "mostly by making the mobile web experience miserable" is highly baity in two ways: the use of the word miserable, and the insinuation that this is a deliberate strategy. Reducing the inflammation in such titles is standard HN moderation.
But I think there's a good point here that the shortened title ("Reddit gets its app to 50m Play Store downloads") was kind of lede-burying. Unfortunately I can't think of an accurate, neutral way to restore the main point, so I guess we'll just put back the sensational title. Maybe someone will suggest a better one.
But I think there's a good point here that the shortened title ("Reddit gets its app to 50m Play Store downloads") was kind of lede-burying. Unfortunately I can't think of an accurate, neutral way to restore the main point, so I guess we'll just put back the sensational title. Maybe someone will suggest a better one.