

HN Contest: Invent the perfect HN-link-bait title - DanielBMarkham

I know we don't do jokes around here very much (unless they are a small part of a comment and in support of a greater point) but I thought that it might be fun to have a contest for folks to come up with the types of article titles they see on HN that strikes them as being link-bait.<p>I figure not only could this be fun/funny, but it also might help the community take a fresh look at the kinds of material we're seeing on the front page (and whether we like it or not)<p>So what's the best title to guarantee a huge HN response? What are the things we reflexively upvote?
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profquail
"Google buys majority stake in MSFT, forces open-sourcing of Windows"

"Tell HN: My startup, RuSrs, built this weekend with JRailsDjango + Nginx +
EC2 + NoSQL"

"Julian Assange is a CIA NOC, released cables to flush out double operatives"

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revorad
The real Facebook killer: Assange's new stealth startup (YC W12) launches at
TC50

~~~
DanielBMarkham
This one was very nice as you happen to have the maximum density of HN
buzzword-candy per sentence.

~~~
revorad
Followup: "Talent acquisition: Groupon buys LeakFace for undisclosed amount"

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tokenadult
Anything related to stereotypical concerns of single heterosexual males (e.g.,
how to pick up women). It will be justified as a "hack" if someone complains
that it has little to do with start-ups or technology. Usually articles of
that kind don't fit the "delight the mind" criterion.

A very close second is anything related to high-IQ people feeling superior to
other people even if they have no noteworthy accomplishments or are social
misfits. That's a more interesting issue, on theoretical grounds, and I post
in (and even initiate a few of) those threads, but there are many other places
online where that issue is more primary, and more likely to be discussed on
the basis of the best published literature on the issue.

In some contexts, the articles on erlang are pure linkbait, usually as a
response to some series of HN submissions with less relevance to computer
technology.

~~~
DanielBMarkham
"Use hidden Erlang innards to pick up girls"

You're right. There have been many articles on dating and sex, all with some
kind of tenuous hacking link. And all from the male perspective.

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ecaroth
"Study shows that people on HN are 80% more likely to read about everybody
else's startups/projects than to make their own"

~~~
DanielBMarkham
Or "how to stop reading articles like this and actually accomplish something"

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x0t
"P = NP"

"K is a ghetto", where K is the language/library of the week.

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byoung2
Microsoft Announces Windows 8 Will be Based on Unix

Windows Phone 8 to be a Custom Version of Android

Microsoft Announces All Future Versions of IE Will Use WebKit

~~~
x0t
The first line actually got me... I forgot for a moment that this was a
fantasy linkbait thread.

Well played, sir/madame.

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edw519
"Bypass YC Application Process for the Next Round with the Best Answer to 'Why
Me?' in this Thread"

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duck
"Torrent of all HN Passwords" (thepiratebay.org)

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jacquesm
Condé Nast acquires HN.

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instakill
"Controversial new bill proposes higher tax for smaller businesses & start-
ups".

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amorphid
"Paul Graham has a very special announcement - please read"

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DanielBMarkham
Here's an initial stab:

"TechCrunch Servers Go Down as TSA takes naked pictures of Arrington using
special SSH tunneling protocol"

"Wikileaks releases internal Microsoft emails proving world domination plans"

"Sartups without money: How I made 14 million dollars in 4 days using an old
rubber hose and a tuna" (predictably loaded with details about the youth of
the founder and the type of sports car they drive and very light on business
models or details of how it all actually worked)

"New Scientific Research reveals very complicated new programming artifact
that involves lots of math and that you will never actually use"

"Please review my startup that I made in five minutes one-handed while doing
shooters and singing karaoke"

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maguay
How about "HN is being shut down"? :)

That'd be sure to get a crazy level of response!

~~~
profquail
Maybe, but unless there was some kind of scandal around why it was being shut
down, it'd have to be from PG...unless you quoted him:

"PG says Hacker News no longer useful, shutting down"

~~~
maguay
Right, of course. In the spirit of the post, I was throwing out a crazy idea.
Let's just hope that never happens :)

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ot
"Major VCs switch to YC-like application process"

