So, how is your weekend thus far? Are you in the mood for a slightly calm rant courtesy of The Flogging Whip? Would you rather be reading Fluff instead? Well, you'll find A Touch Of Fluff here in the topic – just not the Usual Fluff Stuff regarding celebrities.
Today we're going after Online Publishers and their Oppressed Minions, aka The Writers.
How many times have you read a Headline on a website that promises an answer to a problem'; further details on a issue – that sort of tease – only to discover after clicking that tempting link that the author had nothing to say and was apparently just filling empty space? You know what I mean: no answers that were hinted at in the headline. No real content other than repetition of a previous story.
Do you find yourself scrolling down the page looking for a summation or a "Closure" of whatever it was the writer was writing about only to realize there is nothing but blank space or an advertisement and The Ending was a Hanging Chad of sorts? If so, have you been puzzled by the sloppiness, the nothingness, of a professional writer's "work" on a "professional" site when you realize you've been "had" by the headline to lure you into ensuring that the article will receive a lot of "hits" to keep the advertisers happy while The Readers are not?
Do you feel used, in a way, when that happens? Or "duped"? Or stupid for clicking the link?
Overall, misleading "Tease" practices have gone on forever in the publishing biz, therefore it's not new, so why would it cause The Whip to feel a cold, dark Angry Energy shooting out of its handle? Simple. Because IT WASTES OUR TIME! We learned zip. Nada. And yet the publication brought the empty editorial/article/supposed "story" to your attention using Tabloid-Like exclamation marks and language.
Hey, I know that many readers come to TDFB and are disappointed if I haven't written something. So, I write SOMETHING and usually write about how I'm writing about NOTHING. I won't put myself in the same category as The Huffington Post, for example, where at least one would expect reasonably decent writing as well as substance (I hear the GOPer's laughing from miles away at the Huff Post mention) from those who ACTUALLY GET PAID over there to inform us about whatever their area of expertise may be.
Today was yet another one of those Faux Story Days on several websites where I found myself interested in various subjects and clicked-away into another page to learn more, but, instead, was faced with a few cobbled-together paragraphs about nothing, and, as mentioned above, ended in NOTHING.
After months and months and years of falling for the lure of a Good Read, I decided it was time to share my annoyance with The Whip and so, here we are…not quite lashing-out in a vitriolic manner, yet feeling the need to flog what is happening in the Journalistic World because the weakness of content from Major Newspaper Websites (or the sites that are strictly online pretending to provide insight through their Staff Writers and not the Unpaid Ones), is rapidly degenerating alongside the USA's Crumbling Infrastructure.
Do I have a solution? Am I just going to bitch about Misleading Headlines and go along my Merry Way without providing an example? Or anything else?
Yes. Want to know why? Because I didn't write a misleading Title for this post. I admit there isn't a great deal of substance beyond pointing-out The Often Obvious failures of websites that must seem Topical and Informative – whether they truly are or not. I've made my point, I believe, without links to Those Headlines because I'm not feeling The Love to help pointless articles receive additional "hits" to increase their sales.
And, I'm a bit pissed at the writers for "phoning it in" despite understanding deadlines and a specific word count required by publishers that/which often makes a writer's job a nightmare.
NEVERTHELESS…..
Parting words? Yes, The Whip and I would like to NOT THANK all online Headline-Title Writers and their Cynical Bosses for such an astounding lack of originality combined with cynical views/attitudes of The Readers' Gullibility.
Pffffft.
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