4 ms·

I think it will be quit the opposite. It will be run like the Washington Post and it will free them up to actually focus on making great content vs. making spam

I think it will be quit the opposite. It will be run like the Washington Post and it will free them up to actually focus on making great content vs. making spammy content to drive clicks and sell magazines.

gnicholas 8y ago
The Washington Post created a tool called Bandito so they could AB test headlines. Sounds like the opposite of what you described.
- ardy42 8y ago
  > The Washington Post created a tool called Bandito so they could AB test headlines. Sounds like the opposite of what you described. So that's what happened! I was wondering why the Post's headlines were so clickbait-y.
- pavanlimo 8y ago
  AB testing is not an evil act by itself. It's an effective technique to understand the user needs. But what you do with the gathered data could make you evil. No business will want to be out of sync with its users. And no business will want to be in charity mode any more than it should. But doing this without hampering the credibility is the key.
  - gnicholas 8y ago
    It would be great if they would AB test articles. AB testing headlines is basically looking for ways to draw people into articles. So while it’s responsible and even good to test your product, the headline is not the product.
    - pavanlimo 8y ago
      Agreed, for all we know they might already be doing that as well.
    - berbec 8y ago
      For a large part of the traffic being driven to wapo, the headline, and possibly picture, is the only thing that drives people to the site. When someone shares an article to social media, you don't get much more. Look right here at HN; how many times has a thread languished in obscurity just for a slightly differently worded headline to drive it to the front page? Headline quality is incredibly vital in this age.
  - Fricken 8y ago
    The news should be whatever need to know, not what we wanna hear.
    - mark_edward 8y ago
      That's incompatible with the news as a an industry attempting to be profitable, as you can see from the state of the news

gnicholas 8y ago

The Washington Post created a tool called Bandito so they could AB test headlines. Sounds like the opposite of what you described.

ardy42 8y ago
> The Washington Post created a tool called Bandito so they could AB test headlines. Sounds like the opposite of what you described. So that's what happened! I was wondering why the Post's headlines were so clickbait-y.
pavanlimo 8y ago
AB testing is not an evil act by itself. It's an effective technique to understand the user needs. But what you do with the gathered data could make you evil. No business will want to be out of sync with its users. And no business will want to be in charity mode any more than it should. But doing this without hampering the credibility is the key.
- gnicholas 8y ago
  It would be great if they would AB test articles. AB testing headlines is basically looking for ways to draw people into articles. So while it’s responsible and even good to test your product, the headline is not the product.
  - pavanlimo 8y ago
    Agreed, for all we know they might already be doing that as well.
  - berbec 8y ago
    For a large part of the traffic being driven to wapo, the headline, and possibly picture, is the only thing that drives people to the site. When someone shares an article to social media, you don't get much more. Look right here at HN; how many times has a thread languished in obscurity just for a slightly differently worded headline to drive it to the front page? Headline quality is incredibly vital in this age.
- Fricken 8y ago
  The news should be whatever need to know, not what we wanna hear.
  - mark_edward 8y ago
    That's incompatible with the news as a an industry attempting to be profitable, as you can see from the state of the news