Catchy negative title

I increasingly find myself not watching or reading some piece of content solely due to how the title is phrased. It mostly comes down to some line of either: “You would not believe this..” , “SHOCKED”, or just plain “x things you DO NOT KNOW”. I fail to understand why this form of clickbait is being used and why we let it get so far?

Is it because this art of “negging” actually works? Which is the practice of giving a backhanded compliment, maybe something along the lines of: “For your bodytype that piece of clothing looks good”, “You are really funny for a blonde girl”, “For a PHP programmer you wrote a decent unit test”. These titles always suggest you are stupid for not knowing something or not being in the possession of a certain piece of knowledge they unearthed through laborious research, interviewing and networking and are now willing to present to you as the saints they are.

Alternative

It is very easy to say, I don't understand something and leave it at that. What I think the next step should be is to understand why you might not understand something and I find that one way of potentially helping with that is coming up with alternatives that might be better or at the very least achieve the same thing.

Quick sidebar

You might find yourself in the near future or have found yourself in the recent past in the situation that some social obligation or happenstance made you communicate with someone that mentions they have never seen or heard some movie or song that is so pervasive and popular you are insulted that this now, as far as you are concerned, outcast of society has not consumed it yet. Therefor the reaction to this is immediately to air that frustration and make that particular person feel bad and ashamed about it by venting this inane response in the most socially acceptable vitriolic way possible.

Again I come up with a wonderful alternative. Ask that person why did they not see it, what the reasons were in a neutral tone. Not as a setup to then again react violently to. Then if they are unsure, maybe explain the show without spoilers and describe it in terms of genres, feelings, arcs and narratives. Again in a very neutral manner, not to convince them, just to inform someone else. Key being that you just want to transfer knowledge to another human being.

Which brings me back to the earlier point. I will give example of some bad things that I found on YouTube. – You SHOULDN’T hate the Blue Shell with the thumbnail saying You're wrong – 13 Cool Things You Probably Didn't Know About Zelda: Ocarina Of Time (Part 3) – 20 Facts You Didn't Know 5 Minutes Ago – The Craziest Interrogation You'll Ever See

If the second item said, You might not or You might not have, then it would be a lot better. Now it comes off across as condescending.

Interestingly enough the channel behind the second item on the list also has examples on good alternatives:

So these titles to me convey just such a better angle and story. I would love to learn the insane planning into Full Metal Jacket or more cool things regarding Zelda: Majora's Mask. How about something interesting about electricity, that which we use constantly. Also an awesomely sweet title for a new game that is being played.

They are still highly inviting and if not positive at least at the very least neutral.