Those kinds of titles are really tired, but clickbait is unfair. "X For Fun and Profit" can be found in g-files back to the late '80s, a time well before clicking.

http://www.textfiles.com/phreak/

The point is, "for fun and profit" is such an overused and utterly boring cliché. Meaningful titles are pleasant to read and shows that the writer has put some effort to bring clarity into what they're trying to convey. (As someone who sits on a major open source conference talk panel, I cringe when I see one of these clichés slapped into the title without much thought. I politely suggest to rephrase to convey more "signal" in the title.)

I'm in absolute agreement. Nerd-culture has been on autopilot for decades and needs to find its next level.

This is a really interesting topic to me, because I've felt a pull toward things like this myself and seen it for decades. For example, the top of the README in my Zephyros project[1] was very playfully done, and very well received too.

People are naturally more lighthearted and organic than the sterile software and documentation we tend to write, and we're more social too, wanting to connect with others even if it means through a simple in-joke or catch phrase.

[1] https://github.com/sdegutis/zephyros

I am not saying to not be human and take all the zest out of the writing.

FWIW, I suggest the book On Writing Well. William Zinsser has valuable advice on how we can still retain humanity in our writing without being dull and lackluster when dealing with dry and "sterile" topics like software.

Part of nerd culture finding it's next level will be we stop saying "next level".

Memes are the next level, it seems

It certainly was in 1994.

https://www.wired.com/1994/10/godwin-if-2/

An army of trolls that launch a fringe reactionary political movement which transcends the national boundary with postmodern "dank memes" seems to be the level we are at now. I wonder what's coming next...

As someone who attends open source conferences, thank you for your efforts to keep talk titles meaningful :)

(My pet peeve being "$thing 2: electric boogaloo", which just seems to be filling up space with nonsense words - at least "for fun and profit" makes gramatical sense...)

Don’t forget “How I learned to stop worrying and love [thing]”.

Just stop with these. They aren’t funny or original.

shish2k: electric boogaloo

Perhaps you should start a panel -

MODCON: Revenge of the Boring Moderator

You should write an article titled “For Fun and Profit Considered Harmful.”