“Game I refuse to name is free but you better hurry!” That’s clickbait. It’s no different than “This child start got arrested. You won’t believe who!” No context, all hype. Forced to click through for any actual useful information.
Yes, actually. There’s zero legitimate reason to exclude names of the places and people involved. Also, this article is literally using fomo to get people to click their link. That’s clickbait. Dunno why you’re so defensive of it.
The first contains no “draw”. It would be completely different if it said “celebrity” instead of man or “million dollar organization”. Naming either in the title would do nothing to help, as people would likely not know who or what they were. Here: “Bob Bobtallion’s home burglarized by the Boblicious Crime Organization” did that actually add any info that won’t need to be heavily explained in the article? Not unless you know either of those entities, and chances are you won’t. Not to mention, crime organizations are normally nameless and don’t advertise themselves.
The second can be improved and made less clickbaity: “Hilton hotel burned in suspected arson.” The changeout of “Hilton” to “popular” is what makes it clickbait. It’s explicitly removing a piece of information, and requiring you to read the article to get that information.
The third is the worst offender. Why aren’t we naming the senator? Why aren’t we giving some reference to what assault is being talked about? There are two pieces of information being intentionally left out. And I might agree that the assault can’t be easily condensed into headline lingo, but the senator can definitely be named.
The point is, a clickbait headline is something intentionally leaving you guessing at what is going on when it could easily contain the information. You may have a rough idea, but in order to get the full picture you need to click into the article.
Edit: And a real world example, this article. No one, and I truly mean no one, wants to click into the article. The writer knows this, but wants the ad revenue. So what do they do? Sensationalize the headline and refuse to name the game. Anyone who wants to get the name of this “omg amazeballs free for now game” needs to click into the article.
Archive (cause fuck clickbait bs): https://web.archive.org/web/20240302152841/https://www.pcgamesn.com/space-crew/free-game-steam
Also, the game is Space Crew: Legendary Edition.
I’m sorry what’s clickbait here?
I think that term has lost all meaning to some of the more simple folk on here.
“Game I refuse to name is free but you better hurry!” That’s clickbait. It’s no different than “This child start got arrested. You won’t believe who!” No context, all hype. Forced to click through for any actual useful information.
Do you think articles should include all relevant information in the title?
“Man’s home burglarized by criminal organization” is clickbait?
“Popular hotel burns in suspected arson” < clickbait?
“Senator wasn’t involved in assault, staffer says” clickbait too?
Yes, actually. There’s zero legitimate reason to exclude names of the places and people involved. Also, this article is literally using fomo to get people to click their link. That’s clickbait. Dunno why you’re so defensive of it.
Ahh I see. So something like this?
https://i.imgur.com/kpEPLnl.jpeg
You’re right. That’s a fucking headline - you clearly have a career in journalism brah
The first likely isnt, the rest absolutely are.
What do you think clickbait is exactly? Because it seems like you may just have no idea what it actually means.
Seems like you have no idea what a headline is 🤷
All three contain the same amount of info, but you somehow found two of them unacceptable?
You’re aware that “headline” and “clickbait” are not mutually exclusive?
You’re aware that you arbitrarily declared 2 of my examples clickbait despite all three containing the exact same amount of information?
Are you aware of anything at all? Why the fuck would I care how you define words that you apply with zero regard to consistency or accuracy?
Arbitrary?
The first contains no “draw”. It would be completely different if it said “celebrity” instead of man or “million dollar organization”. Naming either in the title would do nothing to help, as people would likely not know who or what they were. Here: “Bob Bobtallion’s home burglarized by the Boblicious Crime Organization” did that actually add any info that won’t need to be heavily explained in the article? Not unless you know either of those entities, and chances are you won’t. Not to mention, crime organizations are normally nameless and don’t advertise themselves.
The second can be improved and made less clickbaity: “Hilton hotel burned in suspected arson.” The changeout of “Hilton” to “popular” is what makes it clickbait. It’s explicitly removing a piece of information, and requiring you to read the article to get that information.
The third is the worst offender. Why aren’t we naming the senator? Why aren’t we giving some reference to what assault is being talked about? There are two pieces of information being intentionally left out. And I might agree that the assault can’t be easily condensed into headline lingo, but the senator can definitely be named.
The point is, a clickbait headline is something intentionally leaving you guessing at what is going on when it could easily contain the information. You may have a rough idea, but in order to get the full picture you need to click into the article.
Edit: And a real world example, this article. No one, and I truly mean no one, wants to click into the article. The writer knows this, but wants the ad revenue. So what do they do? Sensationalize the headline and refuse to name the game. Anyone who wants to get the name of this “omg amazeballs free for now game” needs to click into the article.
“Space Crew is free on Steam until x date”
Is that so hard?
You’re welcome to write that article, let me know when it’s up.