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Do you think that click-bait titles are ineffective, or effective but unethical, or something else?
by BeeOnRope 5y ago
Do you think that click-bait titles are ineffective, or effective but unethical, or something else?
- amelius 5y agoThey are unnecessarily vague/mysterious. Instead, the title should just state what is the case: "Intel CPU-update causes slowdown" or something like that.
- cperciva 5y agoI think the "on Wednesday" bit is also significant since it tells us that this was a recent change (and one we probably weren't aware of). On the whole I'd say that the original title is much better than most.
- huhtenberg 5y agoShould've said "... this Wednesday" then. The way it's phrased implies a periodic event, which is what makes the title clickbaity.
- BeeOnRope 5y agoI specifically tried to avoid implying that (periodic). I think it would have to say "on Wednesdays" (note the s) to have that meaning. The title originally said "last Wednesday" but I waited too long to publish it and was actually two Wednesdays ago...
- serf 5y agoyou didn't ask me, but I feel strongly about the question asked. Effective but unethical, but unethical in the sense that marketing psychology is unethical. Unethical because it uses well known human psychological weaknesses to help nudge a target towards an action that they themselves may not have chosen to perform without the nudge. If I was asked, i'd wager that most motivated persuasion is unethical to some degree.
- eps 5y agoThey are misleading. Imply one thing, deliver another and this leaves an aftertaste even the actual content is good (like in your case).
- shaklee3 5y agoIgnore them. Nice work as usual, Travis.