question: why do mainstream websites link those clickbait articles? Why aren’t they worried about it hurting their reputation?
comment: It might be that they (the mainstream sites) don't choose the clickbait intentionally. They may have an advertising deal whereby they share revenue with an ad agency for clicks, and the ad agency places the ads. The ad agency is going to place whatever draws the most attention, so clickbait is the logical choice if you want to make money.
passages: BuzzFeed editor Ben Smith states that his publication doesn't do clickbait, using a strict definition of clickbait as a headline that is dishonest about the content of the article. Smith notes that Buzzfeed headlines such as "A 5-Year-Old Girl Raised Enough Money To Take Her Father Who Has Terminal Cancer To Disney World" deliver exactly what the headline promises. The fact that the headline is written to be eye-catching is irrelevant in Smith's view since the headline accurately describes the article.
   By 2014, the ubiquity of clickbait on the web had begun to lead to a backlash against its use. Satirical newspaper "The Onion" launched a new website, ClickHole, that parodied clickbait websites such as Upworthy and BuzzFeed, and in August 2014, Facebook announced that it was taking technical measures to reduce the impact of clickbait on its social network, using, among other cues, the time spent by the user on visiting the linked page as a way of distinguishing clickbait from other types of content. Ad blockers and a general fall in advertising clicks also affected the clickbait model, as websites moved toward sponsored advertising and native advertising where the content of the article was more important than the click-rate. 
   The term clickbait is sometimes used for any article that is unflattering to a person. In such cases, the article is not actually clickbait by any legitimate definition of the term.
  
  Section::::Background.
   As problem attracted interest, tools have been developed to address the clickbait problem. Clickbait detection, for instance, has been integrated in browser applications while digital platforms where contents are shared such as Twitter have updated their respective algorithms to filter clickbait contents. Social media groups, such as Stop Clickbait, combat clickbait by giving a short summary of the clickbait article, closing the "curiosity gap". Clickbait reporting browser plug-ins have been also developed by the research community in order to report clickbait links for further advances in the field based on supervised learning algorithms.
   Facebook, while trying to reduce the amount of clickbait shown to users, defined the term as a headline that encourages users to click, but doesn't tell them what they will see. However, this definition excludes a lot of content that is generally regarded as clickbait.
  
  A more commonly used definition is a headline that intentionally over-promises and under-delivers. The articles associated with such headlines often are unoriginal, and either merely restate the headline, or copies content from a more genuine news source.
   BULLET::::- Competitors of publishers: These persons may wish to frame a publisher. It is made to look as if the publisher is clicking on its own ads. The advertising network may then terminate the relationship. Many publishers rely exclusively on revenue from advertising and could be put out of business by such an attack.
   There are various clickbait strategies, including the composition of headlines of news and online articles that build suspense and sensation, luring and teasing users to click. Some of the popular approaches in achieving these include the presentation of link and images that are interesting to the user, exploiting curiosity related to greed or prurient interest. It is not uncommon, for instance, for these contents to include lewd image or a "make money quick" scheme.
  
  Section::::Backlash.
   Section::::Use.
   Clickbait (film)
  
  Clickbait is a 2018 social satire horror film directed by Sophia Cacciola and Michael J. Epstein. The film is an exploration of the pressures on people to have performative identities and to seek popularity.. The film satirizes not only social media, but the way in which social media is used to sell advertising for mundane products, specifically the invented radioactive toaster pastry, Toot Strudels.
  
  The film won the award for "Best Feature" at the Starburst 2019 Fantasy Film Awards.
  
  Section::::Plot.
   Section::::Delaying and denying payments.
  
  In 2017, Chitika shocked its publishers by changing the minimum payout from $10 to $50. It affected many existing publishers who joined Chitika for its lower payout option. Publishers who cross $50 are banned from the network.
  
  On April 17, 2019, Chitika wrote to publishers advising them of their immediate cessation of business. The email advised publishers to remove all Chitika code from their website. The email further advised publishers that they would not be paid for impressions or clicks occurring since March 1, 2019.
   BULLET::::- Other malicious intent: As with vandalism, there are many motives for wishing to cause harm to either an advertiser or a publisher, even by people who have nothing to gain financially. Motives include political and personal vendettas. These cases are often the hardest to deal with, since it is difficult to track down the culprit, and if found, there is little legal action that can be taken against them.
   From a historical perspective, the techniques employed by clickbait authors can be considered derivative of yellow journalism, which presented little or no legitimate well-researched news and instead used eye-catching headlines that included exaggerations of news events, scandal-mongering, or sensationalism. One cause of such sensational stories is the controversial practice called checkbook journalism, where news reporters pay sources for their information without verifying its truth. In the U.S. it is generally considered an unethical practice, as it often turns celebrities and politicians into lucrative targets of unproven allegations. According to "Washington Post" writer Howard Kurtz, "this thriving tabloid culture has erased the old definitions of news by including tawdry and sensational stories about celebrities for the sake of profit."
   Writer and comedian B.J. Novak tweeted in March 2018 that the writers at ClickHole "are doing brilliant work."
  
  After falling for a fake quote attributed to him on ClickHole, Anderson Cooper dedicated the "Ridiculist" segment of the May 20, 2015, episode of "Anderson Cooper 360°" to the website.
  
  Section::::Reception.:Controversy.
  
  Many users of social media have taken ClickHole articles to be literal (especially those addressing controversial topics), and have expressed their anger and confusion online.
   What we have here is a media outlet trying to create a controversial story in order to get clicks by whatever means they can. In this case they are trying to interpret comments, posts, photos and even t-shirts to paint me as something I’m not. For profit. They wanted me to give them a quote for their story to tell my side of things. But, I don’t feel compelled to help them with their news business. Instead, I will address the issues that they imply with my own statement in my own words direct to those who care to read it.
   Though the publication began publishing more articles, many readers began to complain about a decline in quality during its time with Editorial Concept owing to what several readers alleged was a rise in clickbait content. In December 2015, Florida company Bright Mountain Media, a company focused on military and law enforcement web sites, acquired War is Boring from Editorial Concept.
   BULLET::::- Friends of the publisher: Sometimes upon learning a publisher profits from ads being clicked, a supporter of the publisher (like a fan, family member, political party supporter, charity patron or personal friend) will click on the ads to help. This can be considered patronage. However, this can backfire when the publisher (not the friend) is accused of click fraud.
   Section::::Release.
  
  "Clickbait" was released on VOD in North America on June 18, 2019.
  
  Section::::Festivals and awards.
  
  BULLET::::- GenreBlast Film Festival 2018 (Winchester, VA) - Winner: Best On-Screen Duo (Amanda Colby Stewart and Brandi Aguilar) - Nominated: Best Actress (Amanda Colby Stewart, Brandi Aguilar), Best Score, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography
  
  BULLET::::- Sanford International Film Festival 2018 (Sanford, ME) - Winner: Best Music - Nominated: Best Feature, Audience Choice Award
  
  BULLET::::- Arizona Underground Film Festival 2018 (Tucson, AZ) - Winner: Best Horror Feature
   For sites that thrive on thousands of click-throughs to content, many authors see the use of clickbait as a means to tap into human psyche by crafting these eye-catching headlines. There are also those who use this method for phishing attacks for the purpose of spreading malicious files or stealing user information. The attack occurs once the user opens the link provided to learn more. Clickbait has also been used for political ends and has been blamed for the rise of post-truth politics. Katherine Viner, editor-in-chief at "The Guardian" wrote that "chasing down cheap clicks at the expense of accuracy and veracity" undermined the value of journalism and truth. Emotional subjects with stark headlines are widely shared and clicked, which resulted in what "Slate" described as an "aggregation of outrage" and a proliferation of websites across the political spectrum – including "Breitbart News", "Huffington Post", "Salon", "Townhall" and the Gawker Media blogs – which profited by producing shareable short-form pieces offering simple moral judgements on political and cultural issues.
   BULLET::::- Amanda Colby Stewart as Bailey
  
  BULLET::::- Brandi Aguilar as Emma
  
  BULLET::::- Seth Chatfield as Detective Frank Dobson
  
  BULLET::::- Ryan James Hilt as Chase
  
  BULLET::::- Cedric Jonathan as Brayden
  
  BULLET::::- Makeda Kumasi as Professor Vargas
  
  BULLET::::- Jannica Olin as Laura
  
  BULLET::::- Johannes Grenzfurthner as Wolfgang van Tütstrudel
  
  BULLET::::- Sarah Paterson as the living statue
  
  BULLET::::- Sophia Cacciola as Mrs. Wilson
  
  BULLET::::- Brittnee Hollenbach as Toaster Pastry Enthusiast
  
  BULLET::::- Lianne O'Shea as Mike Pence
  
  BULLET::::- Michael J. Epstein as Donald Trump
  
  BULLET::::- Matt Stuertz as Excited Biology 433: Plant Taxonomy and Human Dissection student
  
  BULLET::::- Jill Galbraith as Banana
   In late September, "Frontiers in Public Health" published a controversial article that supported HIV denialism; three days later the publisher issued a statement of concern and announced an investigation into the review process of the article. It was eventually decided that the article would not be retracted but instead was reclassified as an opinion piece. Around November 2014 the collaboration between NPG and Frontiers quietly ended when the two groups "made the decision ... to make a clean separation and never to mention again that [Nature Publishing Group] has some kind of involvement in Frontiers."
   Actor and director George Takei mentioned the website on his official Facebook account after the ClickHole team published an article dedicated to him ("10 Things We Hope George Takei Likes Enough To Share This List") and repeatedly tried to contact him through social media. In another instance, the Facebook account of Robert Downey, Jr. posted a link to the article "What Robert Downey Jr. Would Look Like Today," which had the satirical premise of the actor having died several years ago and stating, "I always try to defy expectations."
   Clickbait is a form of false advertisement which uses hyperlink text or a thumbnail link that is designed to attract attention and entice users to follow that link and read, view, or listen to the linked piece of online content, with a defining characteristic of being deceptive, typically sensationalized or misleading. A "teaser" aims to exploit the "curiosity gap", providing just enough information to make readers of news websites curious, but not enough to satisfy their curiosity without clicking through to the linked content. Click-bait headlines add an element of dishonesty, using enticements that do not accurately reflect the content being delivered. The "-bait" part of the term is used in analogy to fishing, where a hook is disguised by an enticement (bait), presenting the impression to the fish that it is a desirable thing to swallow.
   In August 2014, it was released onto Kongregate, and in September 2014, it was released onto Armor Games. It was later released onto the online distribution platform, Steam in May 2015 for Microsoft Windows and OS X. It was also released for iOS and Android on Aug 20 2015. Version 1.0 was released in June 2016 and included a feature called "transcendence". When a player transcends: they will keep their ancient souls (received by transcending), rubies, outsiders, lifetime achievements, mercenaries and clans but will lose everything else including gilds, hero souls, relics, ancients, and zone progress. In May 2019, the iOS version of the application was generating an income of $200-$300 per day until an international trademark dispute caused Apple to remove the game from the app store.
   As rulings of the HREOC are not enforceable at law, the case went to the Federal Court of Australia to enforce the Commission's decision. The Court ordered in 2002 that Töben remove from the Adelaide Institute website any material which conveys one or any of the following imputations:
  
  BULLET::::- there is serious doubt that the Holocaust occurred
  
  BULLET::::- it is unlikely that there were homicidal gas chambers at Auschwitz
  
  BULLET::::- Jewish people who are offended by and challenge Holocaust denial are of limited intelligence
   Since being founded in June 2014, ClickHole has published parodies of nostalgic content, advice, motivational quotes, sport analysis, life hacks, fashion, and think-pieces (all of which mimic the style and tone of content posted by media sites such as Buzzfeed and Upworthy). Another popular feature is "oral histories" of TV shows, websites, and other usually very recent pop culture phenomena.
  
presuppositions: Mainstream websites link clickbait articles intentionally. Mainstream websites intentionally use clickbait articles.
corrections: Mainstream websites may link clickbait articles only through an ad agency. Mainstream websites have an advertising deal with an ad agency, and the agency places the ads.
raw_presuppositions: Mainstream websites link clickbait articles intentionally. Mainstream websites intentionally use clickbait articles.
raw_corrections: Mainstream websites may link clickbait articles only through an ad agency. Mainstream websites have an advertising deal with an ad agency, and the agency places the ads.