Don't click that
May 27, 2013 3:41 PM Subscribe
@HuffPoSpoilers. "I give in to @HuffingtonPost click-bait so you don't have to."
Getting recursive: Huffington Post article about HuffPo Spoilers.
Getting recursive: Huffington Post article about HuffPo Spoilers.
I'm going to need a slideshow of the 50 Most Awesome Buzzfeed Parody Tweets for this to work.
posted by The Whelk at 3:44 PM on May 27, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 3:44 PM on May 27, 2013 [3 favorites]
HuffPo Headlines in a quick list:
You Won't Believe...
10 Surprising Things...
Guess Who's Showing Underboob?
Amanda Bynes...
WATCH... [video]
LOOK... [photos]
15 Celebrities Who...
Outrageous...
Red Carpet Disasters
posted by Short Attention Sp at 3:56 PM on May 27, 2013 [2 favorites]
You Won't Believe...
10 Surprising Things...
Guess Who's Showing Underboob?
Amanda Bynes...
WATCH... [video]
LOOK... [photos]
15 Celebrities Who...
Outrageous...
Red Carpet Disasters
posted by Short Attention Sp at 3:56 PM on May 27, 2013 [2 favorites]
Guess Who's Showing Underboob?
Sorry guys, my bad.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 4:04 PM on May 27, 2013 [17 favorites]
Sorry guys, my bad.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 4:04 PM on May 27, 2013 [17 favorites]
I like it when a HuffPo article is just a blockquote and a link of the article just below it in Google.
posted by Artw at 4:08 PM on May 27, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by Artw at 4:08 PM on May 27, 2013 [2 favorites]
This is really a great account to follow; it's amazing to see how many links follow this form once you've got someone on the lookout for it.
posted by gerryblog at 4:13 PM on May 27, 2013
posted by gerryblog at 4:13 PM on May 27, 2013
Betteridge's law of headlines:
"Any headline which ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no."posted by schmod at 4:22 PM on May 27, 2013 [10 favorites]
The answer might suprise you.
posted by Artw at 4:27 PM on May 27, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by Artw at 4:27 PM on May 27, 2013 [2 favorites]
Thanks for this 1 weird tip!
posted by benzenedream at 4:43 PM on May 27, 2013 [18 favorites]
posted by benzenedream at 4:43 PM on May 27, 2013 [18 favorites]
So could I say you... iced them?
posted by maryr at 5:08 PM on May 27, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by maryr at 5:08 PM on May 27, 2013 [3 favorites]
Yahoo needs one of these as well.
I know that twitter has a very small character limit, but would it kill the poster to just say in a sentence the punch line and then give the link? It would certainly make it easier to read.
Some of those tweets seem unintelligible unless you went to the original article, and that kind of defeats the purpose if the punch line is something you'd rather not encourage "journalists" to write about. In other words, it doesn't kill the incentive to create link bait if you have to click the link to understand the spoiler.
An example where clarity gives brevity and an easier read:
Original tweet:
This type = throat cancer RT @HealthyLiving Is there a link between heartburn and this type of cancer? http://huff.to/18bNHGq
Rewrite:
There is a link between heartburn and throat cancer http://huff.to/18bNHGq
posted by Muddler at 5:19 PM on May 27, 2013 [2 favorites]
I know that twitter has a very small character limit, but would it kill the poster to just say in a sentence the punch line and then give the link? It would certainly make it easier to read.
Some of those tweets seem unintelligible unless you went to the original article, and that kind of defeats the purpose if the punch line is something you'd rather not encourage "journalists" to write about. In other words, it doesn't kill the incentive to create link bait if you have to click the link to understand the spoiler.
An example where clarity gives brevity and an easier read:
Original tweet:
This type = throat cancer RT @HealthyLiving Is there a link between heartburn and this type of cancer? http://huff.to/18bNHGq
Rewrite:
There is a link between heartburn and throat cancer http://huff.to/18bNHGq
posted by Muddler at 5:19 PM on May 27, 2013 [2 favorites]
I'm almost sanguine to the way sites like HuffPo promote their own content, compared to the way legitimate news sites -- many of them -- run services like Taboola, which are merely paid ads for linkbait-y, right-wing-y content elsewhere on the web (e.g. the "banned video" portrayed by a two-faced Obama, or the billionaire, who is obviously a smart economist because he's a billionaire, telling us to expect economic ruin shortly).
Muddler, half the point of the feed is to show up the insidious Betteridge-ness of the HuffPo heds. If anything, it's telling you NOT to click on the link.
posted by dhartung at 5:30 PM on May 27, 2013 [2 favorites]
Muddler, half the point of the feed is to show up the insidious Betteridge-ness of the HuffPo heds. If anything, it's telling you NOT to click on the link.
posted by dhartung at 5:30 PM on May 27, 2013 [2 favorites]
Am I the only one who'd love to see this used to parody a bunch of yellow journalism from the 19th century? Ooh, ooh, or snake-oil patent medicine ads? Heck, practically ever ad printed before 1970 could be turned into a snarky tweet, and you'd be linking to stuff that's significantly more clever than Huffington Post.
posted by SMPA at 5:32 PM on May 27, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by SMPA at 5:32 PM on May 27, 2013 [1 favorite]
If you're sick of accidentally clicking on a HuffPo link and suddenly having a loud video start autoplaying, here's a clear explanation of how to enable the Click to Play feature in Firefox which will prevent autoplaying videos on any site that you haven't whitelisted.
posted by straight at 5:45 PM on May 27, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by straight at 5:45 PM on May 27, 2013 [1 favorite]
you know, at least when I click on a buzzfeed link i don't end up feeling like a chump. i don't immediately ignore it like huffpo. did huffington post used to matter somehow? it's f*cking garbage
posted by ninjew at 6:19 PM on May 27, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by ninjew at 6:19 PM on May 27, 2013 [1 favorite]
straight: "If you're sick of accidentally clicking on a HuffPo link and suddenly having a loud video start autoplaying, here's a clear explanation of how to enable the Click to Play feature in Firefox which will prevent autoplaying videos on any site that you haven't whitelisted."
No clue if they've done this to others, but HuffPo hotlinked to one of our videos a few years ago, and set it to autoplay on their front page.
That was a bad day for our sysadmins. We're prepared for big spikes in traffic and have endured massive DDoS attacks, but even the most sophisticated cyber-trolls would have difficulty coordinating that kind of spike in bandwidth. Unfortunately, our plans for malicious spikes in traffic didn't quite anticipate that a legitimate media outlet would do something like that...
posted by schmod at 6:39 PM on May 27, 2013
No clue if they've done this to others, but HuffPo hotlinked to one of our videos a few years ago, and set it to autoplay on their front page.
That was a bad day for our sysadmins. We're prepared for big spikes in traffic and have endured massive DDoS attacks, but even the most sophisticated cyber-trolls would have difficulty coordinating that kind of spike in bandwidth. Unfortunately, our plans for malicious spikes in traffic didn't quite anticipate that a legitimate media outlet would do something like that...
posted by schmod at 6:39 PM on May 27, 2013
Muddler I like the way @HuffPoSpoilers does it.
The fun is to read the RT first, (everything after the "RT") and think to yourself "Yeah, I would click that, just to find out the answer which type cancer might be linked to heartburn?"
And then, read the front of the tweet. Throat cancer! Oh, cool. Thanks, @HuffPoSpoilers. You just saved me from getting sucked into a HuffPo quagmire.
Click here to see 3 more tips for efficient web surfing.
posted by surplus at 7:13 PM on May 27, 2013 [2 favorites]
The fun is to read the RT first, (everything after the "RT") and think to yourself "Yeah, I would click that, just to find out the answer which type cancer might be linked to heartburn?"
And then, read the front of the tweet. Throat cancer! Oh, cool. Thanks, @HuffPoSpoilers. You just saved me from getting sucked into a HuffPo quagmire.
Click here to see 3 more tips for efficient web surfing.
posted by surplus at 7:13 PM on May 27, 2013 [2 favorites]
We're prepared for big spikes in traffic and have endured massive DDoS attacks, but even the most sophisticated cyber-trolls would have difficulty coordinating that kind of spike in bandwidth. Unfortunately, our plans for malicious spikes in traffic didn't quite anticipate that a legitimate media outlet would do something like that.Why not just post your videos on YouTube? I've never really gotten why so many sites want to host their own video content. It can't be cheap, and yet the user experience is almost always worse.
posted by delmoi at 7:18 PM on May 27, 2013 [1 favorite]
Horace Rumpole: "Guess Who's Showing Underboob?
Sorry guys, my bad."
Glad everyone was looking at you...
posted by Samizdata at 7:30 PM on May 27, 2013
Sorry guys, my bad."
Glad everyone was looking at you...
posted by Samizdata at 7:30 PM on May 27, 2013
Short Attention Sp:
You forgot "Paul Krugman Says..."
posted by 4ster at 7:32 PM on May 27, 2013 [1 favorite]
You forgot "Paul Krugman Says..."
posted by 4ster at 7:32 PM on May 27, 2013 [1 favorite]
I am reminded of Al Neuharth meeting with his editors and brandishing a copy of USA today. He pointed out a photo of a cheerleader on the front page and noted that when showcasing a clean, wholesome All-American girl not to forget the primary rule of newspapers: always get the tits above the fold.
Now Neuharth was actually making a joke but I think Huffington has taken that rule to heart.
posted by Ber at 7:58 PM on May 27, 2013
Now Neuharth was actually making a joke but I think Huffington has taken that rule to heart.
posted by Ber at 7:58 PM on May 27, 2013
Guess Who's Showing Underboob, doo dah, doo dah
posted by azpenguin at 8:18 PM on May 27, 2013 [7 favorites]
posted by azpenguin at 8:18 PM on May 27, 2013 [7 favorites]
Guess Who's Showing Underboob, doh, doo dah day
posted by eye of newt at 8:24 PM on May 27, 2013 [4 favorites]
posted by eye of newt at 8:24 PM on May 27, 2013 [4 favorites]
Perhaps someone could make a Twitter feed that links to the actual articles that the Huffington Post turns into summaries.
posted by postdarwin at 8:33 PM on May 27, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by postdarwin at 8:33 PM on May 27, 2013 [1 favorite]
I remember when the Huffington Post was the Great Liberal Hope. That lasted what, five minutes?
posted by happyroach at 8:35 PM on May 27, 2013
posted by happyroach at 8:35 PM on May 27, 2013
The anti-vax thing probably doesn't help.
I dunno, I still link to them from time to time, mostly when I'm too lazy to dig up the actual source they are copying - really I should put in the extra effort required to avoid that.
posted by Artw at 8:54 PM on May 27, 2013
I dunno, I still link to them from time to time, mostly when I'm too lazy to dig up the actual source they are copying - really I should put in the extra effort required to avoid that.
posted by Artw at 8:54 PM on May 27, 2013
I actually remember when they started they had some kind of pretension to be sort of highbrow. It's amazing how they gradually morphed into the open sewer of the internet.
posted by delmoi at 9:26 PM on May 27, 2013 [4 favorites]
posted by delmoi at 9:26 PM on May 27, 2013 [4 favorites]
That's awesome. I will google the article and go to it directly so as not to give HP the hits. Too many deceptive headlines.
posted by professor plum with a rope at 11:16 PM on May 27, 2013
posted by professor plum with a rope at 11:16 PM on May 27, 2013
(best to skip the original HuffPo article there if you're sensitive about pets, it's pretty disturbing)
posted by Artw at 3:47 AM on May 28, 2013
posted by Artw at 3:47 AM on May 28, 2013
Not bird, nor plane, nor even noob, just little old me, Underboob.
watch out for his arch-nemisis Overbutt!
posted by eriko at 6:53 AM on May 28, 2013
watch out for his arch-nemisis Overbutt!
posted by eriko at 6:53 AM on May 28, 2013
Guess Who's Showing Underboob?
...
Betteridge's law of headlines:
"Any headline which ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no."
Any yes/no question.
Original tweet:
This type = throat cancer RT @HealthyLiving Is there a link between heartburn and this type of cancer? http://huff.to/18bNHGq
Rewrite:
There is a link between heartburn and throat cancer http://huff.to/18bNHGq
I think the idea is that the poster is also showing the "bait," as it were.
In the original, the poster is filling in the missing info on which cancer is related to heartburn (which is throat cancer, duh). Your rewrite conveys the info, but not the HP tease.
That is, the intent is to expose the hed tease, not just to abstract the article. I prefer the originals.
Perhaps someone could make a Twitter feed that links to the actual articles that the Huffington Post turns into summaries.
That would be a good one. Ooh, PETA is getting nasty. Better send them some more money. :D
posted by mrgrimm at 9:16 AM on May 28, 2013
...
Betteridge's law of headlines:
"Any headline which ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no."
Any yes/no question.
Original tweet:
This type = throat cancer RT @HealthyLiving Is there a link between heartburn and this type of cancer? http://huff.to/18bNHGq
Rewrite:
There is a link between heartburn and throat cancer http://huff.to/18bNHGq
I think the idea is that the poster is also showing the "bait," as it were.
In the original, the poster is filling in the missing info on which cancer is related to heartburn (which is throat cancer, duh). Your rewrite conveys the info, but not the HP tease.
That is, the intent is to expose the hed tease, not just to abstract the article. I prefer the originals.
Perhaps someone could make a Twitter feed that links to the actual articles that the Huffington Post turns into summaries.
That would be a good one. Ooh, PETA is getting nasty. Better send them some more money. :D
posted by mrgrimm at 9:16 AM on May 28, 2013
The news is one place where efficiency has gone in reverse. I am confident that local news stations could actually tell us all the news in the time they spend teasing the news. And don't get me started on the weather report.
posted by thorny at 10:24 AM on May 28, 2013 [4 favorites]
posted by thorny at 10:24 AM on May 28, 2013 [4 favorites]
Did I miss Mom 58 Looks 28? I need that. How about 1 Weird Tip That Reduces Bellyfat? Please?!
posted by thinkpiece at 12:23 PM on May 28, 2013
posted by thinkpiece at 12:23 PM on May 28, 2013
That is, the intent is to expose the hed tease, not just to abstract the article. I prefer the originals.
Also, doesn't the "RT" mean retweet, as in verbatim? What's the etiquette thereof?
posted by MoTLD at 11:24 PM on May 29, 2013
Also, doesn't the "RT" mean retweet, as in verbatim? What's the etiquette thereof?
posted by MoTLD at 11:24 PM on May 29, 2013
I have followed this account for a few days now and realized I was exposing myself to more brainless crap than if I would click on the occasional link bait from HuffPo itself.
posted by thorny at 10:55 AM on May 30, 2013
posted by thorny at 10:55 AM on May 30, 2013
There's MT now, for Modified Tweet.
posted by Artw at 11:00 AM on May 30, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by Artw at 11:00 AM on May 30, 2013 [2 favorites]
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