4 ms·

The headline was clearly written to get people to say, "Hmm, a great trap? And it affects all Americans? I wonder what this trap is. Some kind of alligator, may

by raldi 10y ago

The headline was clearly written to get people to say, "Hmm, a great trap? And it affects all Americans? I wonder what this trap is. Some kind of alligator, maybe? My brain will not allow me to get any work done until I find out the nature of said trap."

leoc 10y ago
Literary-journal article titles have been clickbait of this nature since before the Web existed. Buzzfeed has nothing to teach the NYRB.
- raldi 10y ago
  This is true; before it was bait for clicks, it was bait to get you to pull the magazine off the rack. Different technology, same user-hostile purpose.
  - sotojuan 10y ago
    I wonder what the line between "user hostile" and just regular writing is. In English class I'm pretty sure we were told to do things similar to this (get the reader's attention).
    - cmdrfred 10y ago
      Hemingway didn't spend a lot of time trying to get the readers attention as far as I can tell.
    - TeMPOraL 10y ago
      There's a difference between not boring your user after he decided to read your piece, and tricking your user into reading your piece.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]