# I finally got fed up with clickbait headlines. You won't believe what happens next! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 24, 2015, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-finally-got-fed-up-with-clickbait-headlines-you-wont-believe-what-happens-next/738471 "2015-11-24T20:32:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cardboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Cardboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardboard)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2015, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-finally-got-fed-up-with-clickbait-headlines-you-wont-believe-what-happens-next/738471/1 "2015-11-24T20:32:50Z")
This is brief. I absolutely revile click bait headlines. Not only because they are such blatantly obvious attempts at overselling the content within a link, but also that people are still stupid enough to click on them. I hate that they have become visible on actual news websites, utilized by people who consider themselves ‘respectable journalists.’ If they had faces, I would punch each of them. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2015, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-finally-got-fed-up-with-clickbait-headlines-you-wont-believe-what-happens-next/738471/2 "2015-11-24T20:41:45Z")
I know, right? [You won’t believe what people say about it!](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=751589) ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2015, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-finally-got-fed-up-with-clickbait-headlines-you-wont-believe-what-happens-next/738471/3 "2015-11-24T21:11:27Z")
What really sucks is when you are leaving a site, and at the last minute before the page disappears you see a clickbait you actually want to check out, but when you go back in you can’t get that one back in the random cycler. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2015, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-finally-got-fed-up-with-clickbait-headlines-you-wont-believe-what-happens-next/738471/4 "2015-11-24T21:23:19Z")
What bothers me is that people probably don’t bother clicking, but they remember the inflammatory headlines. So the effect of clickbait can be pretty poisonous, because people don’t drill down to detect the bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2015, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-finally-got-fed-up-with-clickbait-headlines-you-wont-believe-what-happens-next/738471/5 "2015-11-24T21:24:37Z")
Plus when you try to leave a site and a pop-up goes “ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO LEAVE THIS SITE?” Bonus points if there’s a few pop-ups before the page actually closes. ---
**Author:** ![dirty\_hippie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@dirty\_hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dirty_hippie)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2015, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-finally-got-fed-up-with-clickbait-headlines-you-wont-believe-what-happens-next/738471/6 "2015-11-25T07:31:47Z")
I see these links on Facebook and I hardly ever click on them. Also I dislike the photos in which a person or animal is holding a sign or next to one that says something to the effect of who said a single mom or whatever can’t get 1000 likes or shares…or whatever. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2015, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-finally-got-fed-up-with-clickbait-headlines-you-wont-believe-what-happens-next/738471/7 "2015-11-25T07:36:45Z")
…Have you guys seen the latest episode of South Park? ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2015, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-finally-got-fed-up-with-clickbait-headlines-you-wont-believe-what-happens-next/738471/8 "2015-11-25T08:11:07Z")
> [@Soylent\_Juicy](#): > > Plus when you try to leave a site and a pop-up goes “ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO LEAVE THIS SITE?” Bonus points if there’s a few pop-ups before the page actually closes. _Inspired by this I looked up how to prevent that thing._ _Mozilla Forums has a Greasemonkey script in a post [**here**](http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=2755235)_ Firefox \> File \> Open File… \> Browse to Block exit page prompt.user.js \> Open \> Install \> OK // ==UserScript== // @name BlockUnloadEvents // @namespace[http://theaceoffire.8k.com/STOPTHEMADDNESS](http://theaceoffire.8k.com/STOPTHEMADDNESS) // @description This stops ANY AND ALL javascript that stops you from leaving a page. Inspired by this greasemonky script: [Dance Party](http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/20781) // @include \* // ==/UserScript== (function() { unsafeWindow.onbeforeunload = null; ``` unsafeWindow.onunload = null; //unsafeWindow.alert = null; //unsafeWindow.confirm = null; //unsafeWindow.prompt = null; //unsafeWindow.open = null; ``` })();Save this file _open Kate or any other text editor and paste that in._ _Entitle it:_ Block exit page prompt.user.js * * * - Greasemonkey works on most browsers. Still I had to find out how to do a local install instead of fetching a script from [**Greasespot**](http://wiki.greasespot.net/User_Script_Hosting). Firefox is getting dumber and dumber.\* _Open **Manage User Scripts** from **Firefox/Tools/Greasemonkey,** and then drag&drop from wherever you saved the script._ _This installed it all right, but I dunno how to test it since the offending page will show no evidence of having existed…_