While I understand your intentions I believe your action to be incorrect. The original title of the post was the exact title of the source article. Also the OP is associated with opengov so they were presumably satisfied with the title.
As you stated the thread has been mainly about the title. That was what posters found the most interesting part of a fluff piece.
It's not a question of intent but of the site rules. The rule is to use the original title unless it is misleading or linkbait [1]. In this case it was arguably both, so the original title was ruled out.
One reason why baity titles are precluded is that they cause precisely the sort of bikeshed title war that brought this thread down.
As you stated the thread has been mainly about the title. That was what posters found the most interesting part of a fluff piece.