Thanks or no thanks

I'm currently translating an article of Joel Spolsky's which is called Thanks or No thanks and I'm a bit confused about the meaning of the title.

The only two possible meanings that I could guess are the following:

• "Thanks!" or "No, thanks", referring to whether the character of the article will accept the offer, or he will reject it.
• Deciding whether or not we should thank the character

Which one is correct?

Solution 1:

I would relate "Thanks" to the extrinsic motivation, and "no thanks" to the intrinsic motivation ("what drives you to do something regardless of whether you will receive a reward") Joel mentions in his article.

In that regard, your second interpretation is closer to the point of the article.

I don't know the target language for your translation, but you need to consider the multiple meanings of "Thank" (gratitude, help from, because of, ...), all of them having some sense in the context of Joel's paper.
But a literal translation of "Thanks" might not have those same definitions, so you will need to rephrase and simplify this title.

Solution 2:

Joel Spolsky is a good writer with a playful sense of humor who likes plays on words. It is entirely possible that he could have used the title Thanks or No Thanks as an echoic reference to the phrase "Thanks but no thanks" (which one says to express gratitude at having been offered something while at the same time declining to accept it).

It is also possible, since he was writing for a professional publication (Inc. magazine), that the headline was added or altered by an editor. Editors (especially of print publications, and Inc. was originally and remains also a print publication) love punny healines (or heds, as the journalistic community refers to them). Only Joel and the editor would know for sure, and they may have forgotten.