Death to Clickbait

Giff Constable misc

I’ve decided I’ve had it with blogger clickbait, in particular the tendency to toss a highly controversial title in front of a non-controversial post.

The ones I fall for usually claim that something I believe is wrong (or “dead”). Then they proceed to explain how the idea was right after all, albeit in need of “tweaking.” I click because I am always interested in learning from different viewpoints. I end up just being disgusted with the author’s need to put traffic over authenticity.

The blogosphere should be about ideas, not traffic. If you have something interesting to say, say it. Have confidence in it. Stand behind it. Don’t bullshit your audience. Junk traffic is a vanity metric. Why chase it?

I’ve decided that I’m done with any authors who bait and switch me for a traffic boost. All they are doing is contributing to a race to the bottom.