6 ms·

1 Month and already incapable of writing a normal title.

by dufmo 4y ago

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
falcolas 4y ago
The sad state of headlines and video titles. Even Veritasium, an otherwise reputable channel, has jumped this shark.
- bradlys 4y ago
  They explained in a video why they do it… Most creators are explicit in why they do it. If they didn’t - their channel wouldn’t reach as far as it did otherwise.
  - falcolas 4y ago
    Oh, I completely understand why they did it. And why they have the thumbnails of a person looking shocked at whatever the subject matter is. But I hate it. The change is a tangible downgrade that cheapens the channels who do it. I'm glad for them that they have a larger reach, but I'm no longer a part of that reach because I can't stomach the chintzy thumbnails and titles designed to appeal to first-graders. I voted with my feet on that change. Maybe that's just me.
    - bradlys 4y ago
      I find this as childish as to not read a book because it doesn’t have a flashy cover.
      - falcolas 4y ago
        As you pointed out above, presentation matters. Quite a bit. The tricky bit is that "matters" works in both directions. And the only method I have - that any of us has - when it comes to discouraging clickbait... is not to click. Choosing to use what agency I have available to me is hardly childish.
      - ad404b8a372f2b9 4y ago
        It's more like not reading a book because it has a flashy cover. Sex sells but I won't buy a book about physics that has a woman in a bikini on the cover. It's about the signals you send as an author.
        bradlys 4y ago
        It’s just as childish because you’re making assumptions about the content based off a cover. It’s no different. Something something MLK quote something something.
        falcolas 4y ago
        They made no assumptions about the content. They simply expressed a distaste for the cover. To continue the analogy, there are plenty of physics textbook manufacturers, and not all of them decide to use sex to sell their textbooks. Choosing to not engage with a blatant marketing tactic and picking another textbook is a perfectly valid action for someone of any age.
        jerf 4y ago
        "Don't judge a book by its cover" is a lie-to-children; there's some truth to it, but if I were making a list of sayings we tell to children and how truthful it is, this one would actually be rather far down my list. Judging things by their cover is generally effective. The horde of exceptions stampeding into your mind and encouraging you to hit "Reply" and start to list them are exactly that: Exceptions. There are, admittedly, rather a lot of them. I look over at my bookshelf and I could show you some myself. Nevertheless, it really is a better heuristic than a lot of people would care to admit. Part of this is because covers have a lot of intentionality in them. People deliberately imbue them with information. I don't ignore them. Mind you, I might not come to the intended conclusions... to take one clear example, the intentional message being sent by romance book covers and the one I receive are fairly different. Nevertheless, in the end, both I and the publisher are generally satisfied by the transaction, even if they might prefer I buy it anyhow, I'm not in the target audience and they know that.
        pjc50 4y ago
    - blondin 4y ago
      same here. i straight up ignore these videos, no matter who posted it. if you have to have an arrow pointed to something in your thumbnail. or have to make a shocking face, you do not value me or my time. there are many other videos to watch. i have ignored many that follow this rather dumb trend. and i still can get to the bottom of my watch later, guys.
- MisterSandman 4y ago
  To be fair, Veritasium lost a lot of credibility with their Waymo-sponsored self driving video.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
atom-morgan 4y ago
But you clicked.
- OJFord 4y ago
  Can't speak for GP, but the only thing it made me click was the 'flag' button. (Because titles like this are the exception to the 'as in TFA' rule, and generally are de-Buzzfeedified either by submitter or mod.)
- distances 4y ago
  Not the GP, but I didn't click and rather decided to check the comments for a summary. Thankfully someone usually adds that for clickbait title articles.
  - pessimizer 4y ago
    Clicking on the headline on HN is still clicking on the headline. It's a mystery, people are tortured by mysteries. "How the Contents of this Tiny Green Box Completely Changed My Priorities!" There were one or more homeless teen spare-changers that loitered around Pioneer Square in Portland, OR in the 90s who would tell people riddles, and charge them for the answers.
fiat_fandango 4y ago
As an educated person, it's actually insane how hard it is to create click-bait / engaging thumbnails and titles.
- jerf 4y ago
  You may be doing it wrong, no sarcasm nor insult intended. You shouldn't be sitting down and racking your brain to generate one from scratch. You build up a set of functional templates, then poke over the templates for which one happens to fit this video best. It's one step up from the classic Mad Libs game [1], except you can tweak the stock phrases a little bit, too. I fully expect that all the biggest YouTubers either have, or have had, a literal list of title templates to use. You can of course build your list up in about 15 minutes of doomscrolling YouTube. (Possibly without being logged in.) The clickbait is the result of an evolutionary process. You can't beat it de novo, you can only harness it. It's one of the reasons it's so infuriating to some of us. "I Clicked This Link And You Won't Believe What Happened Next!" + Shocked Face is so easy it's almost insulting. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_Libs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_Libs if you don't know this cultural reference.
  - fiat_fandango 4y ago
    I couldn't agree more ;)
azangru 4y ago
And there are so... many... ads... on that page

1 Month and already incapable of writing a normal title.

by dufmo 4y ago

1 Month and already incapable of writing a normal title.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

falcolas 4y ago

The sad state of headlines and video titles. Even Veritasium, an otherwise reputable channel, has jumped this shark.

bradlys 4y ago
They explained in a video why they do it… Most creators are explicit in why they do it. If they didn’t - their channel wouldn’t reach as far as it did otherwise.
- falcolas 4y ago
  Oh, I completely understand why they did it. And why they have the thumbnails of a person looking shocked at whatever the subject matter is. But I hate it. The change is a tangible downgrade that cheapens the channels who do it. I'm glad for them that they have a larger reach, but I'm no longer a part of that reach because I can't stomach the chintzy thumbnails and titles designed to appeal to first-graders. I voted with my feet on that change. Maybe that's just me.
  - bradlys 4y ago
    I find this as childish as to not read a book because it doesn’t have a flashy cover.
    - falcolas 4y ago
      As you pointed out above, presentation matters. Quite a bit. The tricky bit is that "matters" works in both directions. And the only method I have - that any of us has - when it comes to discouraging clickbait... is not to click. Choosing to use what agency I have available to me is hardly childish.
    - ad404b8a372f2b9 4y ago
      It's more like not reading a book because it has a flashy cover. Sex sells but I won't buy a book about physics that has a woman in a bikini on the cover. It's about the signals you send as an author.
      - bradlys 4y ago
        It’s just as childish because you’re making assumptions about the content based off a cover. It’s no different. Something something MLK quote something something.
        falcolas 4y ago
        They made no assumptions about the content. They simply expressed a distaste for the cover. To continue the analogy, there are plenty of physics textbook manufacturers, and not all of them decide to use sex to sell their textbooks. Choosing to not engage with a blatant marketing tactic and picking another textbook is a perfectly valid action for someone of any age.
        jerf 4y ago
        "Don't judge a book by its cover" is a lie-to-children; there's some truth to it, but if I were making a list of sayings we tell to children and how truthful it is, this one would actually be rather far down my list. Judging things by their cover is generally effective. The horde of exceptions stampeding into your mind and encouraging you to hit "Reply" and start to list them are exactly that: Exceptions. There are, admittedly, rather a lot of them. I look over at my bookshelf and I could show you some myself. Nevertheless, it really is a better heuristic than a lot of people would care to admit. Part of this is because covers have a lot of intentionality in them. People deliberately imbue them with information. I don't ignore them. Mind you, I might not come to the intended conclusions... to take one clear example, the intentional message being sent by romance book covers and the one I receive are fairly different. Nevertheless, in the end, both I and the publisher are generally satisfied by the transaction, even if they might prefer I buy it anyhow, I'm not in the target audience and they know that.
      - pjc50 4y ago
  - blondin 4y ago
    same here. i straight up ignore these videos, no matter who posted it. if you have to have an arrow pointed to something in your thumbnail. or have to make a shocking face, you do not value me or my time. there are many other videos to watch. i have ignored many that follow this rather dumb trend. and i still can get to the bottom of my watch later, guys.
MisterSandman 4y ago
To be fair, Veritasium lost a lot of credibility with their Waymo-sponsored self driving video.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

atom-morgan 4y ago

But you clicked.

OJFord 4y ago
Can't speak for GP, but the only thing it made me click was the 'flag' button. (Because titles like this are the exception to the 'as in TFA' rule, and generally are de-Buzzfeedified either by submitter or mod.)
distances 4y ago
Not the GP, but I didn't click and rather decided to check the comments for a summary. Thankfully someone usually adds that for clickbait title articles.
- pessimizer 4y ago
  Clicking on the headline on HN is still clicking on the headline. It's a mystery, people are tortured by mysteries. "How the Contents of this Tiny Green Box Completely Changed My Priorities!" There were one or more homeless teen spare-changers that loitered around Pioneer Square in Portland, OR in the 90s who would tell people riddles, and charge them for the answers.

fiat_fandango 4y ago

As an educated person, it's actually insane how hard it is to create click-bait / engaging thumbnails and titles.

jerf 4y ago
You may be doing it wrong, no sarcasm nor insult intended. You shouldn't be sitting down and racking your brain to generate one from scratch. You build up a set of functional templates, then poke over the templates for which one happens to fit this video best. It's one step up from the classic Mad Libs game [1], except you can tweak the stock phrases a little bit, too. I fully expect that all the biggest YouTubers either have, or have had, a literal list of title templates to use. You can of course build your list up in about 15 minutes of doomscrolling YouTube. (Possibly without being logged in.) The clickbait is the result of an evolutionary process. You can't beat it de novo, you can only harness it. It's one of the reasons it's so infuriating to some of us. "I Clicked This Link And You Won't Believe What Happened Next!" + Shocked Face is so easy it's almost insulting. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_Libs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_Libs if you don't know this cultural reference.
- fiat_fandango 4y ago
  I couldn't agree more ;)

azangru 4y ago

And there are so... many... ads... on that page