<p>Briefly summarizing the discussion in the comments above.</p>

<p><strong>Using LaTeX markup to write in italic in titles is a dirty hack that should really be avoided:</strong></p>

<ol>
<li><p>It does not look good because of the wrong font and wrong kerning: e.g. <code>$effect$</code> renders as $effect$ instead of <em>effect</em>. Kerning can be fixed by writing <code>$\textit{effect}$</code>: $\textit{effect}$, but the font remains serif.</p></li>
<li><p>It will only be rendered on our own site. In Google searches this will appear as plain text leaving many people wondering what the heck these dollar signs are supposed to mean.</p></li>
<li><p>It ruins the logic of the markup which is (i) bad in itself, and (ii) can produce all sorts of weird effects on non-standard devices such as e.g. for blind people.</p></li>
</ol>

<p><strong>Standard markdown markup (asterisks or underscores) will not work in titles. Avoid it too.</strong></p>

<ol>
<li><p>Writing <code>*effect*</code> or <code>_effect_</code> in the title will leave it unrendered and this is not going to change, see <a href="https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/237125">Can we get markdown support in Question&#39;s `title` field?</a>. So it is a bit pointless.</p></li>
<li><p>One could argue, as @Scortchi notes, that unrendered <code>*effect*</code> or <code>_effect_</code> is nevertheless following a common convention for showing emphasis in plain text. So if appearing in Google search, it will not be very confusing. Therefore I'd say one <em>can</em> use it but only in exceptional circumstances when emphasis is really crucially important.</p></li>
<li><p>Indeed, as @Scortchi also notes, even in print there seems to be a widespread aversion to using italics in titles.</p></li>
</ol>

<blockquote>
  <p>so should asterisks/dollars for italics be removed in titles? Should we edit qs and delete the asterisks/dollars that were intended for emphasis/italics?</p>
</blockquote>

<p>I think dollars should be removed, yes. Asterisks are to be avoided but can stay if they make sense.</p>
