The Internet is a sweet and magical place where loners, like myself, can escape from reality for a bit. The Internet is also a dark and evil place, a cyberspace Hellmouth, where you quickly learn that you should never trust anything.
I’m talking about clickbait. We have all, at one point or another, faced down against clickbait. BuzzFeed is infamous for its notorious use of clickbait titles that are meant to entice readers. Take for example a paraphrased article from today’s homepage, “X [Number] of Best Reactions To Former Popular Band’s Teaser Video.”
Clickbait is meant to attract visitors to a webpage like a bright lamp attracts moths to their doom. The websites that decide to use clickbait title their articles with such headliners as, “You won’t believe this impressive trick," “Professionals Hate This Person," “Secrets they don’t want you to know," etc. I could go on, but this isn’t meant to be a list article about clickbait titles. This is meant to be an article about the Facebook heroes who are attempting to eradicate clickbait.
Stop Clickbait is a simple enough name for a group with one simple purpose. Eliminate the Internet virus known as clickbait.
Stop Clickbait runs entirely on volunteer work and the continued support of their fans. One day, I hope to have the ability to give them my time. These volunteers dive into click holes as truth warriors pursuing the story behind the overhyped title. It is entertaining to read such thrill seeking titles only for it be revealed that the answer is simple and boring.
At publish time, 50 wonderful volunteers in 13 different countries are taking the helm in the filth of the interweb. Stop Clickbait recently launched in 12 new countries, after simple beginnings in Boulder, Colo. The page depends solely on submitted material from passionate fans, of which I am happy to claim to be.
The submitting process is painless and straightforward. All you need is a clickbait article. In a Google form, they ask for four clear things. The clickbait headline, a short and sweet explanation, the article link and a drop-down menu of categories. The categories are, of course, the different subcategories of Stop Clickbait. I won’t bore you with a list, but that includes things like “World News” and “Entertainment," as well as some of the new countries they recently launched in.
Stop Clickbait loves to give credit where credit is due, in that they link the original article from whence they received their information. IFLScience is a crowd favorite and may be next to receive its own subcategory. In fact, Stop Clickbait has reached a point where the circle comes full, and they’ve been made into a clickbait article or two.
They also love their fans. We are the people who keep them alive. As their popularity grows, so do visitors to the page. The trolls have come out of the woodwork, but the message generally remains the same. We, as a people, think clickbait is a terrible scourge. Most comment sections these day, as a generic rule of thumb, should be avoided. Fortunately, the same cannot be said for Stop Clickbait. The comment section mostly remains a hilarious discussion board.
I have to carry the torch and remind you all to avoid Clickbait. Use the hashtag #StopClickbait whenever you see it polluting your Facebook feed. Spoil the articles you post. Now have fun and stay safe!
