No, I am not going to click through to pages that, from the titles, are almost certainly spam, just on the off-chance that it's someone being ironic. Spam does

No, I am not going to click through to pages that, from the titles, are almost certainly spam, just on the off-chance that it's someone being ironic. Spam does turn up on the new page, and that's the context a submitted link first has to prosper in. Is it something I might find interesting? Is it something I won't find interesting but that other HNers might? Or is it just spam? Now, "Wife-Hunting: How to Marry a Brazilian Model" might work very well as a title on the original blog, but that's a different context. His regular readers presumably know that Ferris isn't the sort of person to flog a Brazilian bride-by-mail scheme. But on the HN new page in front of people who don't know Ferris from Adam? It requires a more appropriate title. I think that in general, HNers who submit links need to think more about whether the original title makes sense in the context of HN. If you think we would find it interesting, don't use a title that makes it sound like sensational bullshit or spam, even if it's the original title. Yes, writers use linkbait for a reason: to get pageviews (and attention). It doesn't help readers.