It has come to the attention of the staff recently that there is a trend to word or phrase thread subjects in a manner consistent with "clickbait", that is, subjects which spill over into the first post of a thread, or which do not properly describe what the thread is about. The staff believe that members should have a general idea of what a thread is about before they click on it, and people should not be trying to "entice" members to click on their threads by using misleading / incomplete thread subjects.

As a result, the following new rule will be implemented:

Quote:Clickbait
Posting clickbait threads is not allowed. We consider clickbait threads to be those where the thread subject spills into the first post and hides otherwise relevant information, or where the thread subject is so generic it conveys almost nothing to a potential reader about the contents of the thread.

The staff will make the final determination on whether a thread is considered clickbait or not. Threads determined to be clickbait will have their subjects modified accordingly. Repeat violations of this rule will result in further punishments.

This is however, a minor rule violation. Unless people are doing this repetitively they will not face any action other than their threads being retitled.

Some examples of "clickbait" subjects:

Quote:You won't believe what <insert name here> has done!

(a better subject would be to state what <insert name here> has done, or at least to summarize)

Quote:Subject: "Trump Vows Major Investigation..."
First post: "of His Claim of Voting Fraud"

Based off this article: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/25/us/po...ation.html, we're fine with posting links to news media, but splitting the subject up is a no-no.

If you are still confused, when creating a thread subject, ask whether if viewed alone it would give the reader a good idea of what the thread was about. The two examples above fail to do that.

I approve of this message

I'm not sure. I for one like flashy headlines. Maybe because it was my job for the last 20 years. I also don't understand what's so bad about drawing someone into a thread because of it's title. If it's not interesting folks will leave it anyway.

There's nothing wrong with flashy headlines as long as they accurately reflect what the thread is about.

I get bugged by vague titles, whether or not they spill from the title area into the post itself. Good move, I think.

I won't use any flashy headlines but I guarantee my next thread concerning a man, his spoon and a pet Japanese devil owl will change your life perspective.

(January 25, 2017 at 1:35 pm)abaris Wrote: I'm not sure. I for one like flashy headlines. Maybe because it was my job for the last 20 years. I also don't understand what's so bad about drawing someone into a thread because of it's title. If it's not interesting folks will leave it anyway.

To me they make browsing the forum more strenuous - I will probably ignore threads with such unclear titles because I don't like the nuisance of opening them to find out what they are about...

Thank you staff.

Death to all clickbait.

Poor min... Anyone should pm him with this.