indigoasis Posted April 28, 2018 Share Posted April 28, 2018 (edited) I was thinking of making a misleading title to prove a point, but I'll stick with being straightforward. Some common examples that I assume most of us are familiar with include YouTube video thumbnails, online advertisements, News articles with misleading titles, gossip magazines, and, although it's a bit of a stretch, public outbursts (or people that make a scene on purpose). Clickbait is the term used for eye-catching or attention drawing material on the internet, but if you want a more accurate definition, here you go. I wouldn't consider Clickbait an accurate term for stuff in the real world, but for the sake of simplicity, we'll just call it bait for now (and I don't know what it would really be called, anyway). It's generally viewed as bad most if not all the time. However, some good applications for Clickbait, if any, that I can think of for it would be: To promote a product that would improve people's lives To bring attention a topic that no one is discussing To give good, practical life advice These are probably really bad reasons to prove that Clickbait can be used for good, but if you have more, feel free to share. I'm still in High School, so my life experience isn't too grand, but with forum discussions like this, I get to learn more and use that knowledge to my advantage. So thank you in advance. (Wow, cheesy much?) Edited April 28, 2018 by indigospace Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moblin Major General Posted April 28, 2018 Share Posted April 28, 2018 Clickbait is a deceptive practice that abuses the free market to stir negative attention to something, usually in an exploitative manner. Those good things you mentioned are easily corrupted just by the underlying principles of clickbait itself, as well as them either being scams or being initially disregarded as scams because of the way they are presented. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragoncat Posted April 28, 2018 Share Posted April 28, 2018 I hate it when articles make me click through tons of pages to read the whole story. Any purpose for that other than to be annoying? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NinjaMonkey Posted April 28, 2018 Share Posted April 28, 2018 30 minutes ago, Dragoncat said: I hate it when articles make me click through tons of pages to read the whole story. Any purpose for that other than to be annoying? To generate revenue for the site from the advertisements that are placed on those pages. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragoncat Posted April 28, 2018 Share Posted April 28, 2018 2 hours ago, NinjaMonkey said: To generate revenue for the site from the advertisements that are placed on those pages. That makes a lot of sense...ugh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eclipse Posted April 29, 2018 Share Posted April 29, 2018 . . .what are you trying to say? Is this even up for discussion? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
indigoasis Posted April 30, 2018 Author Share Posted April 30, 2018 23 hours ago, eclipse said: . . .what are you trying to say? Is this even up for discussion? Probably not, but I was wondering what the consensus was on the topic of clickbait, and if it can be used for good purposes, if any at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ertrick36 Posted April 30, 2018 Share Posted April 30, 2018 On 4/27/2018 at 6:03 PM, indigospace said: I was thinking of making a misleading title to prove a point, but I'll stick with being straightforward. Wise idea; I'm sure a mod would have changed it anyway, as they've been known to change bad/clickbait topic titles like that. On top of what Mr. Hylia said, it can lead someone into having the wrong attitude about those things. People would probably not take a lifesaving product seriously if it was advertised via clickbait, or the people who would be most inclined to actually employ the product might not even give the product a second thought because of potential disdain for clickbait. A topic that was lead on by clickbait might become a topic of vanity or folks might focus too much on whatever the clickbait itself was rather than the topic the author originally wanted people to discuss. And much like with the other stuff you listed, clickbait would make people less inclined to take the "advice" seriously. Clickbait has a very bad reputation, so if there's any product or article with clickbait attached to it, I guarantee you the clickbait will do those entities more bad than good. It's like wishing from a monkey's paw or a genie; you could have the purest of intentions, but there will always be a negative outcome. Plus, then the clickbait for "good" things will get muddied with the clickbait for absolute trite, and the last thing I want is to get confused and disoriented in regards to the content I consume. And one more thing... I really detest clickbait. Something about it just infuriates me to no end. When I say some have disdain for clickbait, I'm speaking partially from personal experience. If Fire Emblem was advertised to me via clickbait rather than through Smash/my sister giving it to me as a gift, I might not have ever even tried it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eclipse Posted May 1, 2018 Share Posted May 1, 2018 On 4/29/2018 at 3:47 PM, indigospace said: Probably not, but I was wondering what the consensus was on the topic of clickbait, and if it can be used for good purposes, if any at all. Welp, if it's not up for discussion, then it's not up for this subforum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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