I went on the front page today...(RANT)

"sm70- why not Duesenberg?" (sm70-whynotduesenberg)
07/21/2014 at 20:55 • Filed to: None

Yeah, that's right. I actually still go on the front page, because I mostly enjoy all the pieces on there. But today, I stumbled across a headline that jumped out at me as being particularly dire and important. It seemed like a matter of life and death and corruption, at least from the title. However, an actually read of the article revealed that the situation at hand was not a huge, life threatening emergency, but more of a minor complaint. For whatever reason, I got a little indignant, and pointed this out at length to the author and anyone else who cared to read it. Some people agreed with me, some thought it was a big deal and that I didn't know what I was talking about, but most did neither. The strongest response I got was from a number of people who basically said, "Of course it had a stupid, click-baity title. Lots and lots of Jalopnik articles do, so stop bitching about this one." A few of them, being front-page commoners commentors, got rather rude. Now maybe I was just in a bad mood, and wrongfully called out the author. Or maybe I didn't fully grasp the issue. But I'm worried that these guys might be right. I really don't want to believe that the front page authors and editors would stoop to such over-dramatic, sensationalized bullshit in their headlines on a regular basis, just to get more views, because frankly, I hold them in a higher regard than that. Am I right? Is this drama-queen headline a mostly isolated incident? Or has Jalopnik really become a marketing land of competing to see which over-hyped, over-dramatized headline can attract the most viewers. I don't think it has. I certainly don't want to believe it. If I'm wrong, either about assuming all is well in FP-land, or for thinking the topic of this article is a smaller deal than the headline claims, please let me know. Better to hear it from y'all on here than from folks on the front page.

Sorry for all my confused ranting. Have a lovely Hispano Suiza K6 as compensation.

DISCUSSION (22)

Textured Soy Protein > sm70- why not Duesenberg?
07/21/2014 at 20:57

Every single site in the Gawker family has been engaging in clickbait headlines for a long time now. Particularly Gawker itself. But yeah, that's par for the course.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > Textured Soy Protein
07/21/2014 at 20:58

It seems like that may be true. I guess I'll just have to come to terms with it.

GhostZ > sm70- why not Duesenberg?
07/21/2014 at 20:59

In case you didn't want people to go find the comment in particular (I assume you didn't, since you didn't link it) there's a statute of limitations before posting rants, usually about 6 hours after your comment. Otherwise, it's really obvious what you're referring to if someone just jumps on the FP.

But yeah, Gawker seems to have a culture of peer pressure at gaining clicks over content, and comment quality (as well as meaningful discussion) seem to be second-hand. The only place that seems to be immune to this is Foxtrot Alpha and some of the other sideblogs. The newer, generally the less biased and sensationalist.

saabstory | fixes bikes, breaks cars > sm70- why not Duesenberg?
07/21/2014 at 20:59

That's the trend, really.

Textured Soy Protein > sm70- why not Duesenberg?
07/21/2014 at 20:59

What I find particularly hilarious about the clickbait, is that Kinja comments, while pretty useless in general, are particularly useless once you get past about 50 replies or so.

And yet...here we are in the Kinja comments.

Logansteno: Bought a VW? > sm70- why not Duesenberg?
07/21/2014 at 21:00

I notice it. I'm going to the FP less and less lately.

Mr. Ontop, No Strokes, No Smokes...Goes Fast. > sm70- why not Duesenberg?
07/21/2014 at 21:02

sm70- why not Duesenberg? got into an online dispute, and you won't believe what happened next! Has science gone too far?

Kinja'd!!!

norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback > sm70- why not Duesenberg?
07/21/2014 at 21:06

Sorry still kind of new here but when you say front page do you mean Jalopnik or something else?

Enginerrrrrrrrr > sm70- why not Duesenberg?
07/21/2014 at 21:07

It does happen a lot... it's been like this for a couple years now. It's obnoxious, I remember it starting over at Gizmodo.

The thing I have been hating is how no one writing the main articles can throw it into word and do spellcheck first. There are always a handful of grammar errors in every article that a 5th grader would catch.

All in all, I just read the main article headlines the same as those "Have you seen this yet? Just wait until you see what happens next!" And it's just some normal video with no shocking ending whatsoever. Thus continues the clickbait scourge...

Enginerrrrrrrrr > saabstory | fixes bikes, breaks cars
07/21/2014 at 21:09

hey! sorry saw you on this random thread. I have a green Ford GT LM waiting for you in LALD if you are interested.

saabstory | fixes bikes, breaks cars > Enginerrrrrrrrr
07/21/2014 at 21:21

I'm going over there right now.

Enginerrrrrrrrr > saabstory | fixes bikes, breaks cars
07/21/2014 at 21:23

alright, check the flea market hawl post

StingrayJake > sm70- why not Duesenberg?
07/21/2014 at 21:32

I haven't been visiting these boards that long, but in my short time here I've decided I prefer to cruise Oppo over Jalopnik. Seems half of anything that ends up on Jalopnik was on Oppo first anyway.

Conan > sm70- why not Duesenberg?
07/21/2014 at 21:35

Beautiful car.

scoob > norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback
07/21/2014 at 21:52

Yes, FP means Jalopnik.

norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback > scoob
07/21/2014 at 21:53

Alright thanks. The more I know.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > GhostZ
07/21/2014 at 22:56

I have no idea of any statue of limitations, but if it's of any interest to you, it's this article , which I didn't link to because I figured people could easily figure out it was that one.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > Textured Soy Protein
07/21/2014 at 22:58

We don't like how Kinja, or sometimes even Jalopnik is, yet we come back all the time.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > Mr. Ontop, No Strokes, No Smokes...Goes Fast.
07/21/2014 at 22:59