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Comment by encom | Hacker News Reader

Betteridge’s Law applies here.

Very much so, and even though the article answers its own question with a no, they know many people will read the headline and only remember the link, and rumour will spread.

I can’t believe we’re _still_ allowing headlines like this in this day and age. I might even report it, because even though technically speaking the article content doesn’t spread misinformation, the title does.

This made me chuckle have you seen the YouTube titles and thumbs?

It is getting SO outrageous that some creators shadow their own channels with the same videos but with normal titles saying they need the main channel with the stupid titles "for the algorithm".

This is the end of the race to the bottom to grab the scraps of our attention.

But what is alternative to titles and thumbnails?

By following the work of authors that you trust and getting recommendations from people you trust, you can reduce your need for recommendations from machines and companies. Then you won't need to rely on clickbait images and headlines to decide if you want to read or watch something.

This requires effort, so it's not free, but I think it's a better way to engage with media.

But that doesn't scale or it does, oldschool Facebook was like that before algorithmic feed took over. Enshittification is real.

This is from the New Yorker - you’d expect media businesses to be held to higher standards than random YouTubers

The law: "Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no."

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