Author Topic: Clickbait Titles...  (Read 21680 times)

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Offline therealcu2010

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Clickbait Titles...
« on: November 10, 2019, 03:21:54 PM »
Seriously, please stop these.

If you want to start a new thread, great! We're always glad to have new things to talk about around here, and some of them even inspire thought-provoking conversation. This is a Good Thing.

What isn't a Good Thing, however, is when the title of the thread is misleading or clickbait. People shouldn't have to open a thread just to find out what it's actually about. Making titles clear and concise gives the reader the opportunity to determine if it's something they are interested in reading or not.

It isn't difficult to write proper titles for threads. Please do so. If the subject of your thread is such that you can't write a non-clickbait title, then chances are you're posting just to post, which is frowned upon anyways and you probably shouldn't do.
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Offline tpir04

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Re: Clickbait Titles...
« Reply #1 on: November 10, 2019, 03:36:11 PM »
But isn't "Clickbait Titles..." a clickbait title? ;)

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Offline mechamind

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Re: Clickbait Titles...
« Reply #2 on: November 10, 2019, 10:45:30 PM »
You capitalized "Good" and "Thing". And you did it again. Now that's posting just to post.  :P

Okay, enough of that. I was able to brush it off when the title was vague, and even "Wheel of Fortune..." has its limits. But "Greed" could mean anything, such as an article about the ongoing greed of some celebrity or political power. Or why you think greediness is good or bad.

Yeah, I guess it's time to draw the line.
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Offline ThomHuge

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Re: Clickbait Titles...
« Reply #3 on: November 11, 2019, 08:47:51 AM »
It wasn't so bad when it was once in a while, and when they were threads with genuinely interesting topics. Lately it's gotten way out of hand, and it always seems to be less-than-qualuty threads that (likely) wouldn't get attention otherwise.

Like CU said, if you have to bait people into visiting your thread, it's probably not worth posting to begin with.

/I look at it as another symptom of a major problem around here--people aren't putting any thought into what they post. I don't expect writing like what I read in scholarly or news articles, but seriously, some things that get posted are just sad. This board would be a much better read if people would actually think before they post.
« Last Edit: November 11, 2019, 08:50:20 AM by ThomHuge »

Offline ThomHuge

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Re: Clickbait Titles...
« Reply #4 on: November 11, 2019, 03:46:38 PM »
But "Greed" could mean anything, such as an article about the ongoing greed of some celebrity or political power.

Point of order--"Greed" wasn't the original title of that thread. ooboh's initial title for that was "On this day 20 years ago…"; "Greed" is what therealcu2010 changed it to in an attempt to make it less of a clickbait title.

Offline pricefan18

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Re: Clickbait Titles...
« Reply #5 on: November 11, 2019, 03:52:36 PM »
Am I in the minority here in thinking that at least the anniversary type posts are really not that bad? I have seen it done elsewhere in a similar fashion for milestones, and even done here I think long ago before more recently. As clickbait goes, I feel like there's much worse honestly than these. Although, I suppose if you wanted to keep that theme around as I feel there is some merit to the concept, what you could do is open up a day in history thread similar to the obits. Might become a little redundant at times maybe, but it'd be a thought.

Offline ThomHuge

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Re: Clickbait Titles...
« Reply #6 on: November 11, 2019, 04:04:25 PM »
Am I in the minority here in thinking that at least the anniversary type posts are really not that bad?

Yes.

I have seen it done elsewhere in a similar fashion for milestones...

Why is what's done "elsewhere" relevant here?

...and even done here I think long ago before more recently.

See my previous point--when it was once in a while and led to interesting threads, it was one thing. But it's gotten out of hand lately, and more often than not seems to lead to junk threads. So, what was done "before more recently" is irrelevant--it's what's happening now that matters.

As clickbait goes, I feel like there's much worse honestly than these.

Again--we're not talking about use of clickbait anywhere else. We're talking about it here.

Although, I suppose if you wanted to keep that theme around as I feel there is some merit to the concept, what you could do is open up a day in history thread similar to the obits. Might become a little redundant at times maybe, but it'd be a thought.

No, what you do is make your users title their threads appropriately (example: "GREED's 20th Anniversary" for the thread in question). That takes care of the problem from every direction--it makes users think before they post; it doesn't waste everyone else's time opening thread after ambiguously-titled thread to find out what they're about; and it discourages posting of redundant threads (no more "I don't know if this was posted already" because you already saw the clear titles of existing threads, and know full well whether you're being redundant).

Basically, anything that forces people to think before they post is (to borrow CU's term) a Good Thing.
« Last Edit: November 11, 2019, 04:12:02 PM by ThomHuge »

Offline pricefan18

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Re: Clickbait Titles...
« Reply #7 on: November 11, 2019, 04:20:54 PM »
Yes.

Why is what's done "elsewhere" relevant here?

See my previous point--when it was once in a while and led to interesting threads, it was one thing. But it's gotten out of hand lately, and more often than not seems to lead to junk threads. So, what was done "before more recently" is irrelevant--it's what's happening now that matters.

I'm just saying in it in the sense that the day in history concept is far from new. So it seems somewhat overblown from that perspective IMO.

Offline ThomHuge

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Re: Clickbait Titles...
« Reply #8 on: November 11, 2019, 05:34:41 PM »
I'm just saying in it in the sense that the day in history concept is far from new. So it seems somewhat overblown from that perspective IMO.

If the alternative is people posting 365 "this day in history" threads each year, then yes, I'm all for keeping it all contained in a single thread--I do like not having a zillion obits for random people cluttering up OiLF. That said, things like the Greed anniversary aren't things I'd want buried in a thread like that (ask yourself: does it seem likely that anyone except the people posting in it actually read the obit thread?).

I'm sorry if the response to annoying clickbait threads seems overblown to you--but rest assured that's a very minority opinion.