Adding to other voices in this thread that the title does not explain academic ranks, it explains North-american academic ranks. There are a variety of academic systems worldwide and in numbers of academics, production, and diversity, USA forms a minority.
A better title would therefore be: “North-american Academic Ranks Explained or What on Earth Is an Adjunct?”
This is not nitpicking. This is about stating clearing the cultural context to not invisibilise discussions that are not centred on US culture.
Everything is implicitly written from the author's cultural perspective.
I've run into plenty of articles written in Canada or the UK or Australia where I only realize the information doesn't apply in the US after I read something unfamiliar and check the domain or org address. I don't get irritated at the article author, I just move on.
It is a blog of an American professor writing in his own language. He is talking about US, because Americans are as entitled to write about US as French are about France.
And you will be shocked, but peoples from other nations would create exact same headline when they write in their own language.
A better title would therefore be: “North-american Academic Ranks Explained or What on Earth Is an Adjunct?”
This is not nitpicking. This is about stating clearing the cultural context to not invisibilise discussions that are not centred on US culture.