The Onion launches Clickhole | Hacker News Reader

The Onion launches Clickhole

clickhole.com

152 pointsdanso36 comments

I Can't Believe The Onion Would Publish This Article About Linkbait. I'm Shocked And Haven't Been Able To Sleep.

The funny thing about websites like BuzzFeed and ViralNova is that the linkbait headlines they use are hard to parody since the truth is already much stranger than the fiction.

It took me a good minute to see what they were really doing. Clickbait websites were definitely in need of some pushback and I'm glad that the Onion is behind it. Oh Onion, you clever bastards.

The Onion uses those same clickbait websites as its advertising revenue. So it's either brilliantly brave or completely dense of them.

EDIT Holy crap: http://www.clickhole.com/video/video-seems-silly-it-makes-go...

EDIT I just realized in lowerclase "clickhole" looks like "dickhole". Maybe this was an obvious joke all along and I'm slow.

Realistically cynical is the description I'd use.

They're usually very blatant about where their ad money comes from. See their 7-Up (http://www.theonion.com/video/today-now-offers-7up-ten-chanc...) and Acura (http://www.theonion.com/video/did-the-media-treat-bachmann-u...) sponsorships. So this doesn't surprise me.

I'm never sure if those product placements are actually paid, or if they're just making fun of the concept.

Well, it's like the Clickhole site - both. I hate artificial generational terms, but ironic contradiction is something that Millennials are comfortable with. (Ooh, I just did it there.) Blame it on the politicians they grew up with.

That video brings satire to a whole new level!

isn't this one better: http://www.clickhole.com/video/what-adorable-little-girl-say...

Excellent delivery. That girl has a bright future.

Damn, she IS good. I hope this launches a career.

I'm not a satirist, but if I were, I'm guessing this would be the best kind of praise.

Facebook has been doing a fair job of banning them. Can't wait for BuzzFeed to be removed next.

I think Facebook has tried to block them but they pop up all over the place. The latest one seems to be PetFlow, which is ostensibly some sort of pet site but it's churning out clickbait like mad.

In short, I don't think FB has been particularly effective, though I admire(d) the goal.

PetFlow was the #1 most engaging brand on across social media before these viral linkbait social sites popped up with genuine and relevant content: http://www.insidefacebook.com/2012/06/26/petflow-walmart-con....

After the rise of these viral linkbait sites, Petflow started emulating the model to keep up. I'm sure this has helped them continue to grow and keep up with these rising competitors like Buzzfeed and Viral Nova, but I personally feel like it's hurting their brand.

So Alex and Joe (founders of Petflow), if you're listening, stop the bullshit and go back what you were doing. These viral linkbait sites are a fad and will eventually go away or get banned. I don't want you guys to go down the same road.

I worked on this! It was a pretty fun project, and I'm really excited to see what the writers do with it.

Did you work on the "ClickQuest achievement" stuff in main.js? "You're truly a god amongst clickers. Trees bend to clear your path." I love it!

Ha, I actually did not. That was my coworker's pet project (but the writers drafted all the achievement names/text). Glad you like it, it was one of my favorite features.

I think it's our god-given duty, as citizens of these United States and of the Internet at large, to make Clickhole articles go more viral than articles from BuzzFeed, ViralNova, etc.

The truly sad, but ingenious thing about this? Most of the clickers won't know the difference.

The irony is this website is better implemented (more responsive, simpler to navigate) than 99% of the "news" sites out there.

This is what gives away the fact that it's a parody

The site looks very promising so far. The Onion has been running listicle-type articles for a while (in the form of captioned photo sets, bulleted lists, and more) so this seems like a natural extension. And the Buzzfeeds of the world certainly deserve the lampooning.

I love how there's a persistent click counter in the footer, which seems to be implemented with localStorage and also seems to be tied to some badge system.

Here's a little insider's secret: http://www.clickhole.com/achievement-hole/

The Onion was lampooning infographics before they took off and evolved into "listicles" at least 10 years ago.

At least two decades. Here's one in an issue from 1994: http://www.theonion.com/articles/november-2-1994,10581/

I imagine they go all the way back to 1988 but it's hard to dig them up....

The badge system is interesting. You can see more of it here: http://www.clickhole.com/achievement-hole/

It also resets after you get the top badge. I cheated and just kept running "jQuery("body").trigger("click");" in the browser console, and it triggered clicks. See: http://bluetide.pro/69vO/52JI0bMg

Oh my god... their parody quizzes are priceless:http://www.clickhole.com/features/quizzes/

The article on publicly executing Ronald Mcdonald is priceless

http://www.clickhole.com/blogpost/its-time-publicly-execute-...

For more from the front lines in the fight against linkbait, see this twitter account: https://twitter.com/SavedYouAClick

Linkbait/Clickbait self-referential title announcing the website: "This One Website Made a Fortune Just By Publishing Sensationalist Headlines - Truth Or Fiction?"

No native Android client? How am I supposed to ignore my friends and family in social situations without this? :(

   $(window).unload(function(){
     localStorage.setItem("cqstate_v7", JSON.stringify({'achievements': {}, 'counters': {'clicks':998}}));
   });

Enjoy! :)

They need to add markov generated comments to tie this all together.

The Onion's version of BuzzFeed?

Looks like The Onion's version of FeedBuzz http://f.eed.bz

I think it's The Onion's version of cnn.com.

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