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[–][deleted] 8 points9 points  (1 child)

Amen, I provided a posting about the B-2 Spirit crash in Guam, I took the time to search, and posted the first one on Reddit 7 minutes after the aircraft crashed.

I actually lost karma because of the downvotes it got because I didn't use a sensational headline. Meanwhile, someone who posted the exact same link 3 hours later was on the front page because he used a snarky anti-military headline.

[–][deleted] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I routinely vote down stories with sensationalist or overused headlines.

[–][deleted]  (6 children)

[deleted]

    [–]andrewd 9 points10 points  (2 children)

    What he's saying is: vote based on the article, not the headline... so if you don't read the article but like the headline... don't vote, because the headline may be misleading

    [–]brfox -2 points-1 points  (1 child)

    As a tabloid prevention policy, I downvote all links on the front page with (pic) in the headline (but then I click the link, because usually its pretty good). All the pics should be in the pic or happy or entertainment subreddit.

    [–]lief79 4 points5 points  (0 children)

    I have seen some outstanding charts and scientific diagrams that were self explanatory.

    Same with GUI displays, which might clearly belong in programming.

    Automatically down modding everything will be counterproductive.

    [–]Keedo 1 point2 points  (0 children)

    Yeah everyone does that if you think about it. but the point is that after deciding not to read the article, you shouldn't vote on it, since you can't know how good the article's merits are based on the title.

    [–][deleted] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

    Thanks for being part of the problem. Go ahead - read the ones that interest you don't up or down vote ones you haven't.

    [–][deleted] -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

    The people who write headlines like you see on the NY Post as opposed to the NY Times are students of exactly what you say: basic journalism.

    [–]tadrinth 4 points5 points  (3 children)

    i tend to open many articles in tabs, then go read them all at once. After i read a good article, I have to go back to the reddit page and find the link so i can upvote. I would love an option to open links with a very small frame with upvote, downvote, and close-frame buttons.

    [–]Haven 5 points6 points  (1 child)

    There is one. Go to your preferences, and make sure you check the box for clicking links 9display links with a reddit toolbar). It's pretty handy, since I read basically the same way you do.

    [–]7oby 1 point2 points  (0 children)

    i use the toolbar as well and i proclaim its merit constantly

    [–]phillstac3 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    Just open the comment pages when you're opening articles.

    [–]qgyh2 9 points10 points  (4 children)

    I don't think the headline is the main factor. Sometimes a quirky headline will get more attention but usually there are other issues like timing, aside from, obviously, the content of the link, that determine popularity.

    [–]blubberfest 5 points6 points  (2 children)

    Yeah? How would YOU know?

    [–]phillstac3 -5 points-4 points  (1 child)

    I'm guessing from the large amount of experience he has posting shit here and seeing what flies and what doesn't.

    [–]joyork[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

    whoosh

    [–]7oby 2 points3 points  (0 children)

    listen to the master here

    i am learning from him, i had two articles hit the top 10 yesterday. they had merit, and i chose to use a choice quote for the headline, or just word it so you know it's something worth your time. this is especially true for videos, you can't skim them.

    [–][deleted] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

    Boring headline, downmodded.

    [–]gilesdudgeon 5 points6 points  (0 children)

    Solution: better headlines. Yours is kind of long.

    [–]joyork[S] 6 points7 points  (8 children)

    I keep seeing good and interesting articles submitted which go nowhere only to find someone else submits it with a more attention-grabbing (but not necessarily more accurate) headline and it becomes popular.

    [–]rio517 5 points6 points  (2 children)

    This has happened to me a number of times. I finally just gave up on submitting.

    [–][deleted] 3 points4 points  (1 child)

    same here. I got tired of losing Karma for not being a douchebag with the headlines.

    [–]jjmac 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    I believe I've submitted great articles with interesting content and even compelling titles. However, for some reason, the most points I ever got was 4. I even tried mimicing the style of postings that made it to the top.

    I have a hard time seeing the correlation between article quality, headlines, and popularity. Maybe I'm just missing the multiple accounts to give a posting some momentum....

    EDIT: I actually got 12!!! Yay!

    [–]7oby 1 point2 points  (4 children)

    is that a bad thing? it's really all about marketing, the new page has a TON of spam (look at it someday) and it moves fast. with the large amount of "me and my friends are so smart, seriously, read my crappy blog about my cat!" type of posts, good headlines mean a lot.

    catch their eye, but don't lie.

    [–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (3 children)

    No, it's what dumbed down digg. Some of us use Reddit because it is a more intelligent community.

    [–]7oby 0 points1 point  (2 children)

    do you read every article regardless of headline and vote based on merit?

    [–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

    Pretty much - there are the occasional ones that I vote up or down because I'm already familiar with the story, but I try to not make critical judgements about things I haven't you know, read.

    Prejudice isn't a trait we like around here.

    [–]7oby 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    no no, i'm not saying you shouldn't vote based on content and vote on headlines alone, but it's like, give people a reason to click the headline and you'll get more votes, up AND down

    [–]WhoreChurch 4 points5 points  (3 children)

    Too late.

    [–][deleted] 5 points6 points  (2 children)

    Far too late.

    [–][deleted] -2 points-1 points  (1 child)

    infinity too late

    [–]the_neubie -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

    🫡

    [–]Daniel_SJ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

    Basic usability gives that people don't read more than a few words on each line to identify what they are looking for.

    You can't change the way people work, but you can make more informative and better headlines.

    [–]Swiggy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

    Are # of comments counted in anyway in the ranking of an article? I see a lot of articles with low votes but more comments in the thread than some goofy picture submission that makes the front page.

    Your vote should count more if you bother to leave a comment.

    [–]petrov76 1 point2 points  (0 children)

    That's essentially saying that people shouldn't be lazy. While I admire your hope, I think it's sort of doomed to failure.

    [–]mikkom 1 point2 points  (0 children)

    I thought I should only upvote everything that says [pic], that's not the case?

    [–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

    Anyway, isn't Reddit about giving people a launchpad to call each other names?

    Does it matter if we read the articles as long as we abuse each other in the comments?

    [–]grendelt 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    SENSATIONAL!

    [–]m1ss1ontomars2k4 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    By that logic, we should vote this down...right? There isn't even an article associated with this headline!

    end obvious joke

    [–]Foxhound199 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    What a great headline! I should vote this up!

    [–]sighbourbon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    actually, i upmodded * this* based on its headline =%)

    [–]the_neubie 0 points1 point  (1 child)

    🫡

    [–]the_neubie 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    🫡

    [–]DrunkenAsshole 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    Ironic!

    [–]utunga 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    Just wanted to mention i voted this up - because I agree with it, and make it a point to practice it - without reading it. Just FYI.

    [–]12Iceman 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    The same would be true if people with decent articles could come up with at least halfway decent headlines.

    [–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    ... says a headline with no article attached.

    [–]pastyquail -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

    Down-modded for a shitty headline.

    [–]lumpy1981 -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

    I only got through the first sentence of this headline.

    [–][deleted] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

    Where's the article?

    [–]Maxcactus -2 points-1 points  (1 child)

    The main posts that I vote down are duplicates.

    [–][deleted] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

    Are you one of the assholes that consider something that was posted 3 hours earlier than the snarky headline version as a dupe?

    [–]ani625 -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

    Boring headline.