One way to flag titles that you consider to be link bait would be to put quotation marks around them, as in "one weird trick that..."
The proliferation of quotation marks would probably give the impression of a somewhat sarcastic and superior editorial policy, but in all seriousness, software people are all about detailed quotation policies, literal references where appropriate, changelogs, version control, etc.
HN's stripped-down aesthetic is a bit Procrustean.
