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ShazzieB

(21,174 posts)
6. So what is it that "we" expected all along? 🤔
Sat Dec 12, 2020, 08:28 PM
Dec 2020

I mean, I know what *I've* suspected, but this tells me nothing, lol! 🤷‍♀️

If I sound a little cranky, it's because I've seen this link before, and a million others like it. They all follow the same pattern, taking you to a site that makes you go through screen after screen, being bombarded with pop-up ads and videos the whole time. Each screen has only a tiny morsel of information, because the point is to keep you clicking for as long as possible (and viewing as many ads as possible). IF you are determined enough to keep clicking to the end (which I'll admit I often am not), the "payoff" almost never lives up to the original buildup, and it takes a ridiculous amount of time to get there. This kind of link is called clickbait, and its purpose is to entice people to view advertising and make money selling that advertising space. It's a racket.

These things have becone a pet peeve of mine after getting roped into wasting too much time on too many of them. Honestly, you would be AMAZED at how much stuff like this is out there, often thinly disguised as a link to a news story. Here's a link to more info on clickbait, with pointers on how to recognize and avoid getting pulled into it: https://www.thegreatcoursesdaily.com/the-skeptics-toolbox-identifying-and-resisting-clickbait/

Cheers!

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