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It's not ‘clickbait’, it's a headline. It's meant to attract attention and engage the user. See the red top header The Register uses? That's a nod to British ta

It's not ‘clickbait’, it's a headline. It's meant to attract attention and engage the user. See the red top header The Register uses? That's a nod to British tabloid newspaper mastheads going back decades, and The Register likens itself to similar hovels of deplorable journalist talent-waste. Not everything is some clinically cynical attempt to con the contemporary reader — sometimes such effort is intentionally tongue-in-cheek for a knowing readership.

efdee 8y ago
I can't be the only one who feels The Register _IS_ a tabloid. Not tongue-in-cheek.
- crankylinuxuser 8y ago
  Yep. It feels like the "IT National Enquirer". * SEE WHAT INTERNET EXPLORDED DID BEHIND THE SCENES! * 10 SECRETS FIREFOX DOESN'T WANT YOU TO KNOW * USING A FREE VPN? WHY NOT SKIP THE MIDDLEMAN AND SEND YOUR DATA TO XI JINGPING? * MICROSOFT: YOU LOOKIN AT ME FUNNY? OH, YOU JUST WANT TO SIGN IN (Btw, the last 2 are legit, from the website right now...)
  - admax88q 8y ago
    > USING A FREE VPN? WHY NOT SKIP THE MIDDLEMAN AND SEND YOUR DATA TO XI JINGPING? That's a great headline. What's your problem with it? Does IT journalism need to be dry and purely technical?
    - detritus 8y ago
      Somewhat ironically, The Register has a misbegotten step-sibling, https://www.theinquirer.net/ https://www.theinquirer.net/ [1], which tends towards the dry and purely technical and I've always found it thoroughly unenjoyable. [1] I can't remember the history [2], but long ago there was some disagreement and subsequent parting of ways and The Inquirer was born [2] Wikipedia does though, obviously: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Register https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Register "[co-founder Mike] Magee left in 2001 to start competing publications The Inquirer, and later the IT Examiner and TechEye."
ccnafr 8y ago
It's still clickbait, dear The Register employee.
- detritus 8y ago
  hahaha, brilliant — that's possibly the kindest accusation I've had levelled at me this year! Thank you. As for your earnest insistence — I'd perhaps loosen literality a touch ;)
PhasmaFelis 8y ago
There's a point at which pretending to be a jerk becomes indistinguishable from actually being a jerk.

efdee 8y ago

I can't be the only one who feels The Register _IS_ a tabloid. Not tongue-in-cheek.

crankylinuxuser 8y ago
Yep. It feels like the "IT National Enquirer". * SEE WHAT INTERNET EXPLORDED DID BEHIND THE SCENES! * 10 SECRETS FIREFOX DOESN'T WANT YOU TO KNOW * USING A FREE VPN? WHY NOT SKIP THE MIDDLEMAN AND SEND YOUR DATA TO XI JINGPING? * MICROSOFT: YOU LOOKIN AT ME FUNNY? OH, YOU JUST WANT TO SIGN IN (Btw, the last 2 are legit, from the website right now...)
- admax88q 8y ago
  > USING A FREE VPN? WHY NOT SKIP THE MIDDLEMAN AND SEND YOUR DATA TO XI JINGPING? That's a great headline. What's your problem with it? Does IT journalism need to be dry and purely technical?
  - detritus 8y ago
    Somewhat ironically, The Register has a misbegotten step-sibling, https://www.theinquirer.net/ https://www.theinquirer.net/ [1], which tends towards the dry and purely technical and I've always found it thoroughly unenjoyable. [1] I can't remember the history [2], but long ago there was some disagreement and subsequent parting of ways and The Inquirer was born [2] Wikipedia does though, obviously: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Register https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Register "[co-founder Mike] Magee left in 2001 to start competing publications The Inquirer, and later the IT Examiner and TechEye."

ccnafr 8y ago

It's still clickbait, dear The Register employee.

detritus 8y ago
hahaha, brilliant — that's possibly the kindest accusation I've had levelled at me this year! Thank you. As for your earnest insistence — I'd perhaps loosen literality a touch ;)

PhasmaFelis 8y ago

There's a point at which pretending to be a jerk becomes indistinguishable from actually being a jerk.