Ask HN: Why are the titles 80 chars?

80 is a magic number for anyone who's been in the computer industry for a while.

I suppose because of a historical text mode screen width (80x25 and later 80x43 and 80x50 were all widely used de facto standards).

It's the number of columns on an IBM type punch card.

If your title is more than 80 characters, maybe you do not understand what a title is. Personally I think 80 is way to much.