30 Times ‘Stop Clickbait’ Hilariously Summarized Clickbait Articles And Saved You A Click (New Pics)
Ugh, clickbait. If there’s one thing we hate about the internet, it’s how some people trick us into clicking on links with ambiguous headlines. “You won’t believe how amazing this thing is (and it’s so awesome it’ll blow your mind)!” No. Just tell us what the article’s about!
Fortunately, the Stop Clickbait team is here to help. They are the superheroes that we need (but don’t deserve)! Founded in 2016 by Daniel Tuttle, the main mission of this project is to eradicate clickbait by spoiling it with a few words.
The Stop Clickbait team reads through clickbaity articles and posts a summary for them, so we don’t have to waste our valuable time looking for needles (answers) in haystacks (padded articles with little substance).
"Since last year, we’ve begun to send potatoes to some of clickbait’s worst offenders," the Stop Clickbait team told Bored Panda. "People can now go to our website and select a clickbaiter they want to send a potato to in the mail. We’ll then write their name on the potato, take a picture of it, and then send the person its tracking number. We’ve already gotten some returned back to us so I hope they’re getting just as frustrated as we are reading their clickbait articles!" Read on for the rest of the interview!
More info: StopClickbait.com | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube
This post may include affiliate links.
Stop Clickbait told us that they continue to grow "everyday in countries around the world."
"This is really a movement centered around our users and we couldn’t do it without them. I think people fall so bad for clickbait because it takes advantage of inherent curiosity. If we get baited hard, a simple click can solve that itch, yet we never seem to learn it’s not worth it in the end," they explained.
As for what journalists ought to do, well, it's simple: "It’s better to build relationships with your users based on trust and integrity. Maybe clickbait will get you traffic in the short term, but in the long term, it is not sustainable. Do what’s not only best for your users, but also your organization in the long term."
According to Stop Clickbait, their posts have been viewed over 400 million times. And their team continues to grow, with over 100 volunteers pitching in to, well, stop clickbait. They do what it says on the tin. It would be pretty ironic if they didn’t do what their name suggests.
The project already has over 211k followers on Facebook and 39k fans on Instagram. They have some awesome stuff, so be sure to check out their website and social media accounts.
The project hopes to influence journalists and editors around the world and to help guide them towards more informative, clear, and honest headlines. Very few readers enjoy being yanked around with ambiguous headlines. And most journalists would love to have the freedom to use honest headlines, without editorial oversight due to financial pressure.
The rest of the world should follow suit, and with cats too.
In an earlier interview with Bored Panda, Stop Clickbait founder Tuttle told us that he created it as a “fun little side project.”
“I am an advertising major, so, over the years, I've become very cynical when it comes to false advertising,” he told us what inspired him to create the project. “I am quite fascinated by the spread of online ads and started to think it would be not only hilarious but useful for many to go against the economy of the Internet; ad revenue.”
He continued: “Within a few days, it blew up with viral posts across social media channels and since then there have been vast amounts of support coming from all over the world. Since then, we have expanded into 10 different pages to specialize in different categories of clickbait as well as in 12 different countries around the world."
I don’t think we will ever afford to buy a house. With the high cost of living and renting how the hell can we save $30,000+ deposit just to get approved for a loan.
Tuttle is optimistic about the future. In his opinion, the internet could be clickbait-free. As long as we handle things the right way, of course. “Social media companies need to provide tools to content producers to incentivize them to keep their content on their social media page.”
“One way they can do this is to provide options to generate revenue by posting on social media like Facebook or Twitter. Right now there are no ways to make money directly through social media thus content providers are needing to redirect their traffic somewhere where they can be more profitable like their website," he pointed out to Bored Panda.
"Another thing we fight for is to promote media literacy. By being able to read a headline and tell the difference between a journalist with integrity or simply someone using sensationalism to generate a click, the user can make an educated decision on who to support."
Tuttle added that they are “the little people joining together to fight against the fake news, and we're having an impact. It's time to fight against the economy of the Internet; it's all in the name, it's time to stop clickbait." That’s the spirit! With a sunny outlook like that, it’s not hard to believe that we can live in a world where internet journalism is transparent and to-the-point.
Its a hole created by Big Brother who is watching you since 1984.
... and don't trust essential oils no matter how often your neighborhood Karen tries to convince you.
Snow globe? Does that mean these flat earth idiots actually accept the earth is a globe? 😂
Wait, I'm not quite sure how this works. Do you get out of your running car to check the tire and someone jumps in and drives off? maybe? IDK
Fighting clickbait with clickbait? Isn't BP all about clickbait :p
Load More Replies...I'm so glad someone is doing something about clickbait! I admit that I have fallen for it a couple times, but I learned my lesson.
I'm trying to think of a witty comment to get likes... Just pretend there is one |()|
Wonderful initiative and much needed. Just a word about journalists: we don't always write our own headlines. Editors do.
They actually named Bored Panda as one of the runner ups in the 2018 worst clickbaiters awards!
When you click on the links to the stop click bait website it takes you to a WordPress website in Chinese with with a photo of soccer players in an ad for some sports app but then the articles scrolling down the page are about different unrelated topics(didn't read through).
Is it ironic how much I saw the clickbait during this article about “doctors say throw away this vegetable” and waited for an answer?
BP doesn't really fall into the clickbait category simple because they don't force you to click on an endless number of "NEXT" buttons to read something that would take a single page at most. I can take a 30 item list when it's on 1 or 2 pages, it's those damn tiny sentence per page sites that get paid per click from advertisers, so they force you to click 100 times to read a pile of useless c**p, just to get to that one small nugget of info you came for.
Most clickbait is either REALLY obvious, or obviously stupid. Or, it is completely unimportant. And, if it is potentially truly earth-shattering, I will likely hear about it somewhere reliable rather than some random website that I've never heard of or don't have any interest in visiting...
Oh the irony of bored panda doing a piece about clickbait. Take's one to know one.
Because BP say in the title exactly what the article is about and we don't have to click 37 time to see it 👍
Load More Replies...Fighting clickbait with clickbait? Isn't BP all about clickbait :p
Load More Replies...I'm so glad someone is doing something about clickbait! I admit that I have fallen for it a couple times, but I learned my lesson.
I'm trying to think of a witty comment to get likes... Just pretend there is one |()|
Wonderful initiative and much needed. Just a word about journalists: we don't always write our own headlines. Editors do.
They actually named Bored Panda as one of the runner ups in the 2018 worst clickbaiters awards!
When you click on the links to the stop click bait website it takes you to a WordPress website in Chinese with with a photo of soccer players in an ad for some sports app but then the articles scrolling down the page are about different unrelated topics(didn't read through).
Is it ironic how much I saw the clickbait during this article about “doctors say throw away this vegetable” and waited for an answer?
BP doesn't really fall into the clickbait category simple because they don't force you to click on an endless number of "NEXT" buttons to read something that would take a single page at most. I can take a 30 item list when it's on 1 or 2 pages, it's those damn tiny sentence per page sites that get paid per click from advertisers, so they force you to click 100 times to read a pile of useless c**p, just to get to that one small nugget of info you came for.
Most clickbait is either REALLY obvious, or obviously stupid. Or, it is completely unimportant. And, if it is potentially truly earth-shattering, I will likely hear about it somewhere reliable rather than some random website that I've never heard of or don't have any interest in visiting...
Oh the irony of bored panda doing a piece about clickbait. Take's one to know one.
Because BP say in the title exactly what the article is about and we don't have to click 37 time to see it 👍
Load More Replies...