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Can we stop it with "and the results are terrifying", "and you won't believe what I found", "the <x> situation is insane", etc.? The over-hyping of low quality,
by bmenrigh 8mo ago
Can we stop it with "and the results are terrifying", "and you won't believe what I found", "the <x> situation is insane", etc.? The over-hyping of low quality, low effort content is making it hard to find actually interesting or informative things.
- cheschire 8mo agoFind a better and more accessible solution than clickbait. Please, do it.
- arcfour 8mo ago"Privacy concerns found in audit of popular dev tools" (or something along those lines) would work without feeling sensationalized.
- cheschire 8mo agoYes this one time. I’m speaking generally in response to the general plea.
- thfuran 8mo agoI’m not sure what you mean. Not clickbait is the better alternative.
- cheschire 8mo agoIf that were true, it wouldn’t be such a popular problem. Right? Clearly HN is falling into the same pattern of all the other sites. Engagement hacking blah blah blah.
- thfuran 8mo agoYou have it backwards. If it weren’t true, clickbait wouldn’t be a problem.
- cheschire 8mo agoI think you’re the one with it backwards. You continue to view this through the self-centered eyes of the consumer. But you’re actually the product so your perspective doesn’t matter to the seller or the buyer. That’s why this problem doesn’t get fixed.
- ranger_danger 8mo agoIn this case I'd say the "clickbait" is justified... these results are downright horrific IMO.
- bmenrigh 8mo ago"better", "more accessible"? What the hell are you talking about? Clickbait doesn't make anything better or more accessible. Instead, it makes it impossible to pre-select for interesting information. Instead of telling you what something is about, it tells you how you should feel about it. That's not improving accessibility.
- cheschire 8mo agoI meant from the author’s perspective. Clickbait is too easy, which is probably why it’s so popular.
- bmenrigh 8mo agoOh completely. But my perspective is that we all should individually punish clickbait by not clicking. More broadly, we should strive to keep HN full of quality tech content rather than clickbait.
- SunshineTheCat 8mo agoYea I was thinking the same thing. When you reach for the most exaggerated, over-the-top word possible when describing something relatively mundane, what will you use when you talk about something that actually is "terrifying?"
- thfuran 8mo ago“The most terrifying thing you’ve ever heard”. You can even stick with that one as long as your subjects are monotonically scary.