The dumbest Stuff or Herald headlines (& other news media)

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BDFL - Memuneh
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# 1530215 11-Apr-2016 20:34

"News" sites that publish stories about "viral videos" with these headlines (all real, all from Stuff):

The true story behind the love video that went viral
Dancing cop video goes viral
Video of selfie-obsessed girl goes viral
Highway wee video goes viral
Video of Thai leader 'petting' reporter goes viral
Patrick Gower's 'thug life' goes viral
Samsung's 'see through' truck goes viral
One-guitar quintet goes viral
Taupo policeman's dance duel goes viral
Woman's 'leggings ain't pants' video goes viral
Madcap machine work goes viral
Hip-hop artist's video goes viral
Teen's virtual duet with Jessie J goes viral
Boy's cardboard arcade goes viral
Amazing Games defensive display goes viral
Gone viral: Bouquet toss fail
Fear of flying? Don't watch this video
Dog bites shark and goes viral
Saudi 'no woman, no drive' parody goes viral
Work-from-home mum's take on YouTube viral
Pregnancy prank goes viral
New Hampshire rap goes viral
Maloney's son's grand final trip goes viral
Helmet-cam cycle incident goes viral
Flashmob dance proposal goes viral
'Life-affirming' electric wheelchair invented in Otaki goes viral
Gay teen's abuse video goes viral

frankv:

What I don't get is who, once they've been baited to get ads onto their screen, clicks through to the ad? Surely I'm normal, and the whole concept of being misled into reading ads just angers *everyone*? And therefore, on principal, no-one clicks on the ads?

AND, surely the advertisers are aware of this, and that the ads are completely valueless to them too? So why would the advertisers pay any money for them? And, if advertisers don't pay, why is Stuff/NZH baiting people into viewing them?

Display ads come in many forms. Some need click (CPC Cost per click), some needs an action such as subscribing to a newsletter or downloading something (CPA Cost per action) and some pay just to be displayed (CPM Cost per mile).

Most banner ads with images are CPM - publishers get paid just for showing the ads. Most text ads are CPC and need a click.

People don't get this and still think that "Oh I never click so they never make money from me anyway"... How far from reality.

andrew027:

Wellington's cheapest coffee?
Does your kitchen need a detox?
Are we raising delicate children?
Can you train your cats to love you?

Any headline with a question mark can be answered with "No". It's called Betteridge's Law of Headlines.

DarthKermit

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# 1530271 11-Apr-2016 21:32

I never click on any of those "gone viral" so-called news articles.

Paul1977

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# 1530439 12-Apr-2016 08:56

Stuff this morning has an arcticle about Suicide Squad, with the link titled "We're going back to make it funnier". The actual quote in the article is "I wouldn't say we're going back to make it funnier" (italics added by me).

Behodar

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# 1536403 20-Apr-2016 11:03

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I realise that this thread is a week old, but I just ran into this Herald "article".

Including the headline and stock photo caption, it tells you that police boarded the flight five times. It has the phrase "definition of hangry" three times, and it offers a quote which is then repeated in the very next paragraph.

It really seems that the Herald was grasping at straws to meet some sort of minimum article size!

freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
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# 1536406 20-Apr-2016 11:08

This The Daily Mail style: repeat the same thing over and over and over. And over.

antoniosk

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# 1536463 20-Apr-2016 12:16

Daily mail is churning out 12k articles and 1k videos a day across the planet. It's megabait

According to the economist anyway

________

Antonios K

JimmyH

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# 1536973 20-Apr-2016 20:20

They rang me the other night (again!) to try and get me to subscribe to the paper.

My response was the same as last time: "Yes, I'm interested in getting a paper. Call me back when and if you have some actual content to offer".

That was pretty much the end of the conversation.

And, coming back on topic, if the actual Stuff headlines weren't bad enough, what's with the promoted content generated by Outbrain at the bottom? Interminable click bait about the worlds brightest military flashlight, disturbing photos of Hitler, and "you won't believe what these famous people look like without makeup" rubbish.

Does anyone actually click on that drivel?

gzt

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# 1537002 20-Apr-2016 21:00

JimmyH:
They rang me the other night (again!) to try and get me to subscribe to the paper.

My response was the same as last time: "Yes, I'm interested in getting a paper. Call me back when and if you have some actual content to offer".

You should try the paper. It contains very little of that clickbait style stuff. But your attitude shows that people are getting the two products confused and that has to be a worry for the nzh.

Anyway what kind of content would cause you to subscribe?

JimmyH

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# 1537032 20-Apr-2016 21:29

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I do see the paper, most days.

We get a copy at work. Occasionally I skim it while I eat my sandwiches. Often I run out of paper before I run out of lunch. It's pathetically thin, and light on content. What content there is seEms to largely be based on regurgitated press releases, with no analysis or basic fact checking.

What would I like to see:

more (much, much more!) international news
more financial news
the return of some decent cartoons (Dilbert, Alex, Garfield), but please put Tom Scott out to pasture at last - he used to be funny, he now seems to be mostly whiney and bitter, but rarely amusing.
proper in-depth coverage of serious issues (Brexit etc)
less fluffy filler and infotainment (90 year old fears for missing hamster, Tibby the cat gets a new artificial tail, man makes Elvis picture out of toast (this was a real article!), type stories)
less three-to-five-day-old reprints from overseas papers that I have already read
less opinion columns - I want to read actual news - not fluffy filler about what Dave or Jane think about some random issue
less obviously planted advertorial content masquerading as news

gzt

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# 1537048 20-Apr-2016 21:53

Interesting! What kind of financial news do you want to see?

PhantomNVD

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# 1538566 23-Apr-2016 10:06

Had to love this news hub link;

no story AT ALL attached, but instead of the usual 404, someone put a 'Do Not Use' header and left it advertising?

Lol, guess a certain PM didn't like the criticism?

alasta

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# 1541095 24-Apr-2016 12:12

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There are a couple of types of stories that I've noticed becoming increasingly more common.

The first is an unqualified opinion presented as if it were news. For example : "High profile old person believes that young people are useless at managing their money."

The second is the type where they show a photo of a family gathered together with sad looks on their faces. The article then goes on to describe how something has gone wrong and they have suffered badly because they failed to take out insurance, back up the data on their computer, check paperwork before signing it, or some other basic thing that all responsible adults do.

I should point out that I don't read the Herald or Stuff, but I often get reminded of just how bad they are when I see stuff shared on Facebook.

Geektastic

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# 1541108 24-Apr-2016 12:48

"Hilary Barry went to great lengths this week to retain her frequent flyer membership status - flying to Wellington for lunch before returning in time to host the 6pm news."

"Kim Kardashian West uses gorilla snot in her hair.

Long-time Kardashian hair stylist Jen Atkin has revealed the wonder "weapon" behind the 35-year-old's super sleek S-wave hair is the Mexican-made Moco de Gorilla, Gorilla Snot Gel."

'He was still alive but ever so slightly' (sorry - no, he was alive, or he wasn't alive. It's an absolute state.)

jmh

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# 1541110 24-Apr-2016 12:55

Also 'health news'. I read a story this week about how cheese was really bad for you. At the bottom the two references were links to magazine articles. When I searched her name and found her website she exclaimed that she didn't need science because 'God tells me what right.' These people get columns published in online media.

Rikkitic

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# 1541183 24-Apr-2016 15:06

Off topic but relevant: Although I stopped watching NZ news and 'current affairs' (talk about oxymorons) after TV3's lobotomy, I still get doses of Story (retch) when I walk through the room. I can't stand, I mean really can not tolerate, listening to those idiotic back and forth exchanges between the two presenters venting their opinions to each other whilst pretending to ignore the fact that they have an audience. Or maybe they don't have an audience. I can't imagine anyone wanting to listen to that pointless drivel. What makes this even worse is that at least one of the talking heads is actually a very good, intelligent, capable TV journalist, though you certainly wouldn't know it from this crap. What a waste of talent.

I don't think there is ever a bad time to talk about how absurd war is, how old men make decisions and young people die. - George Clooney

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