3 ms·
My reading is that m-i-l is using "clickbaity" to mean "doesn't prevent all possible wrong conclusions one could draw from the headline". (In this case, the wr
by jessriedel 3y ago
My reading is that m-i-l is using "clickbaity" to mean "doesn't prevent all possible wrong conclusions one could draw from the headline". (In this case, the wrong conclusion would be thinking that because there exists cases of alzheimer being transmitted through some mechanism that Alzheimer was contagious.)
While it's certainly understandable that we are all tired of clickbait that purposefully misleads the reader, imo we should not overcorrect by demanding that headlines cannot be misinterpreted by arbitrarily ignorant readers.
- m-i-l 3y agoThat's right. Living in the UK and taking an interest in popular science during the "mad cow disease crisis"[0], I had been aware that prion diseases can be transmitted in humans if (for example) you eat (infected) brains of your dead ancestors[1], but the headline as originally submitted ("Scientists document first-ever transmitted Alzheimer's cases") did suggest to me that we might be at the start of something altogether new and much more alarming. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bovine_spongiform_encephalopathy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bovine_spongiform_encephalopat... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuru_(disease) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuru_(disease)
- jessriedel 3y agoAhh, yea, fair. I hadn't realized the headline changed. The original is unnecessarily vague, contributing to misinterpretation without benefit.